Maki Stephens is well-known by her peers for working in a morgue at a young age and was encouraged to write about it. Maki, a highly creative person, enjoys many different art-related hobbies, but mostly likes to draw and spend time with friends. After she graduates she would like to either be a mortician or a tattoo artist.
“May you guide me in body and spirit so I may help those in suffering. Keep me encouraged despite the trials and misery I am exposed to. May no one deter me from success under your holy guidance. Amen.”
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We can never go a second without it. Death is everywhere, from the news to our personal lives, we can’t go a day without the mention of passing away or the afterlife. Especially those who make a living out of it. Like few others, I believe death can be a beautiful thing.
Dealing with grief is a part of human nature. It’s so common that it has its own name. A lot of people don’t want to talk about it, but I think dealing with death helps you value your time on earth a bit more. I am working towards becoming a licensed mortician- able to cremate, embalm, and do the makeup of people’s loved ones. It isn’t for everyone, but I enjoy being able to guide others through their grief and help them celebrate the lives of those who have passed.
This constant exposure helps me to think of what death is really like. There is no guarantee of a good death, we can only hope for one. We often think of dying as a bad thing, but it helps us let go of our earthly suffering and creates a memory stuck in time for people to look back on fondly.
Death has so much mystery about it. Is it agonizing? Is it just like falling asleep? Or is it something completely different? While we may never know the truth of what it feels like to die, we can only prepare ourselves to accept it. It isn’t preventable and happens to everyone, so we may as well welcome it when our time comes. We can turn death into a prepossessing thing. We can celebrate the life of someone, and everything that shaped them to be the person they once were.
No matter the cause of death, everyone in the funeral home is treated equally. They are respected and valued and certainly not forgotten. Even in different stages of life, we see them as someone who has lived fully, and for those of us who are religious, we pray for them and ourselves. Every funeral home is unique, yet they all share a vital purpose: to present death as an essential part of life’s journey.
A lot of work goes into death. Not only the emotional distress and shock the family may go through, but preparation for a funeral can be tedious. For embalming, we must wash and clean the body, restoring their clothing, and making them appear more lifelike. The embalming itself takes around 2 hours, and once we’re done, we work on cosmetics. The time can vary based on the cause of someone’s final rest, but it typically takes 1-2 hours to complete. Funeral arrangements must be made, and a death certificate must be written out, which can take a single day to 4 weeks. There is almost an art to it, lots of patience and care go into death. You can take something lifeless and sad and make it into a gorgeous display of humanity. Death is a stage of life we all go through, and I believe we can make it a beautiful thing.
