Today, my parents and I went to visit Ed. Sadly, I noticed when I walked into the Hall of the Olympians that more niches seemed to be filled with urns. Did that many deaths really happen in the last month and a half that I’d been away?

One niche that was very close to Ed’s is actually his former high school classmate’s brother’s. We learned from my aunt, who visited about a week ago and ran into their family, that this classmate’s brother died suddenly in a motorcycle accident. He was just two weeks shy of his 31st birthday. I noticed that his urn said that he passed on August 25th – that was one day before Ed would have turned 34.

Every day, people are being born, married, and dying. While the former two are events that everyone embraces, the latter is really the last thing in the world anyone wants to face or deal with. I ran into Mary, who was our service director who helped us with all the arrangements, and I asked her how she got into this business. She said to me, “you know, I think it’s our job in life to serve people and their needs, and this is one way I can be there for those in need.”

While that is commendable in itself to deal with everyone else’s family’s deaths all day as a full-time job, I know as a fact that could never be a job I could fulfill. I’ve been to so many funerals in my life that I think I’ve had enough. And this last one was the biggest cincher. Now, if everyone can just please stop dying and hurting themselves, I think I would be semi-fine. Oh, and bring Ed back, too, while you are at it. I hate that I have to visit my brother in a room full of ashes, as peaceful and pretty as it is. Why can’t I visit him at a nice apartment in this area where he is living happily and independently?