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Goodbyes are never easy. When the goodbye is forever, it can seem almost impossible. There is no task more important to me as a funeral director than making those final moments with your loved one as comforting as humanly possible. Age and illness take their toll on all of us. The final months of a person's life can change their outward appearance drastically, so much that some families may consider holding a closed casket ceremony, relying on their past memories from healthier days. Though death has robbed you of your loved one, I don't believe death should cheat you of those final moments with that person. Illness releases its hold over the body at death. Carefully, I work to erase the signs of pain and uncover the natural beauty of the person you knew before illness set in. In the movie "Hook", Peter Pan leaves Neverland and grows to adulthood. He must return to Neverland years later to rescue his children from Captain Hook. The "lost boys", seeing an old man, don't believe he's really Peter Pan until one boy, rubbing Peter's cheeks and looking deeply into his eyes, suddenly exclaims, "Oh, there you are Peter"! Seeing a person for the final time in a casket helps begin the healing process, though it may not seem so at the time. Over the years, your mind will return to that image. I want it to be as comforting an image as it can be. I want you to look at your loved one, smile and say "Oh, there you are". | ||||||
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