Welcome to the hundred-and-thirty-second edition of Morticians’ Monday Morning Mashup, 4M #132, where we’ll serve up bite-sized, easily-digestible nuggets of the deathcare news you need to crush conversations in the week ahead. Bon appetit!
Today’s 4M is sponsored by Return Home, an incredibly cool and kind company committed to sharing all things Terramation with Connecting Directors readers. Check out CEO Micah Truman’s message below!
It wasn’t the happiest place on Earth that day
Despite widely-published warnings (like the ones in this 2018 Wall Street Journal article), people still want to scatter the cremated remains of loved ones in Disney’s theme parks. It happened again earlier this month, and royally p***ed off park-goers and cast members (aka Disney employees). Disney considers human remains a biohazard, and as such, any discovery of cremains within the park requires a “HEPA cleanup” crew and, depending on the location of the ashes, a complete shutdown of a ride for an extended period of time. Incidentally, the most popular ride for scattering a loved one is Pirates of the Caribbean.
Confessions of an obit proofer
The UK’s Guardian posted a column last week written by someone who worked as a content moderator for an online memorial company for six years, during which time he says he screened about 500,000 comments for spam, misspellings, and inappropriate messages. It’s a long, but interesting, diatribe that sheds light on what’s become an increasingly popular forum for airing grievances with the deceased, attacking other family members, or having social media-like conversations with other posters that become anything but condolences. One such comment the author found particularly offensive was a person asking another for a quote for mowing their lawn. Overall, though, it’s a good read about the mental toll this kind of work (the work that YOU do everyday, with no complaints) can really take on a person. Also, it does highlight the value of the new, highly accurate AI tools that are beginning to take over these tasks.
Life lessons from the dying
Among the many gratifying benefits of being a death doula is the privilege of hearing the final thoughts and confessions of those nearing end of life. Last week, one death doula shared some of the most common regrets she and other doulas have heard from their clients in the hopes that we, the living, can learn from them. They included:
- Staying in unhappy and sexless marriages,
- Not downsizing or decluttering (and thus leaving this to their survivors),
- Being in a hospital instead of home,
- Being a burden on loved ones in the final days,
- Not saying goodbye to friends, and
- Not sharing their honest thoughts with others.
Do you know NOR?
Natural organic reduction.
Human composting.
Whatever you call it in your neck of the woods, it’s the next wave in disposition … and you need to have your surfboard ready to go.
Micah Truman and the Return Home team are on a mission to educate the world on all things Terramation (a beautiful term they coined for the process) one video at a time. Seven states have legalized Terramation, and more than a dozen others are working on legislation. Even if your state isn’t on that list, the families you serve will be asking questions. Micah and the Return Homies are here to help you answer them.
Let’s start with a quick tour of the Return Home facility, with the one-and-only Micah as your tour guide.
So … How old do you think Tully is? Email info@returnhome.com with your best guess! Micah promised a prize to the winner — let’s hold him to it!
What was your favorite part of the video?
a) Micah sniffing burlap bags of soil
b) Jake not working
c) Learning where the bathrooms were located
Stay tuned for more from Micah and the team, and send us any and all questions you’d like for us to cover in future videos!
