Christmas with the Dead

So, Christmas Day was interesting. A real first for me.

I spent it at the Obituary Desk of our city's newspaper, where I spend most every weekend as well.

No family time for me. No turkey and dressing, no magical mashed potatoes or fancy wrapped gifts to open. No, I settled in with the fax machine and my Christmas Lean Pocket with a side of Funions. And a Coke.

For most people, this might sound like a REALLY depressing holiday. But it was quiet. And for someone who comes from a family of temper tantrum fit-throwers, thats a good thing.

Death doesn't stop for the holidays. I feel bad for those funeral directors that are on call 24/7....one minute you're enjoying Christmas morning with your children, next minute you're picking up Mrs. Green at the local nursing home.

But I digress........

As I sat at my post for the post-mortem, something occurred to me. It seems that people with very eery similarities die in groups, within days or so of each other. Over the weekend I had 3 retired nurses, 2 or 3 women by the name of Cleo (thats not a very common name) and a handful of the last name Martin. Why is that? And its very odd, but if you receive 1 infant or toddler, you can count on getting at least a few more. It all really makes you wonder....does it happen that way on purpose?