At 11:11 at the halfway mark of my last semester at school, I sit on the couch and think of the time that has passed and remembering the times I never believed I would be this close to completing this journey. Years before I ever started school, I vowed to myself to not make the same mistakes I thought my father had made continuing this family business. I use to think to myself about the tribulations that he endured and the impact it had on his family without ever considering the impact he had on the lives around him he served.
When I got home from school today, my wife asked me if I was nervous or anxious to be finishing school. I responded with “Neither, I’m ready”, words again I never thought I’d mutter.
Never mind the last two years, I think I’ve been working towards these last 7 weeks of my life for the last 31 years. From times sitting at the office desk with my father as he bounced back and forth between the arrangement conference and his office or dropping off typed obituaries to newspapers or seeing him walk out the door on Christmas morning to go meet with a family who had called in him to bring their mother back to the funeral home. Each moment had brought me closer to being ready to for this moment in my life.
I’ve found great purpose in being a funeral director and an embalmer. Like a hammer hitting a nail, I truly can’t imagine myself doing anything else with my life. The calling that people talk about when they reflect on why they course a career resonates with me. It’s like a reflex now, maybe one that had to be learned in order for it to be discovered within me, but a reflex that feels similar to breathing or blinking.
I’ve been inspired by many in my class. Meeting the next generation of funeral directors may do that after working alongside people recent age the last 9 years. The funny thing is that even as different as the times are, the motives kf service before self remain the same. To improve an industry that may have predict slighted them, to take over a family business and continue a legacy of service, or the calling to care for others in the deepest of sorrows. As different the times are now , motivations have stayed relatively similar.
What I hope to bring to the table is an eagerness to serve others and continue a legacy that dates back 133 years this year (5 Generations). There have been many amazing people who have walked the halls of Murphy Funeral Home whether they share the last name or not who have sacraficed a lot to continue this legacy for so long and my only hope is to continue that into the next generation and hopefully do just as much good if not more in my tenure there in a hope to one day pass it along to my children who may find the calling to serve others and continue on the Murphy tradition. In the meantime, I’ll be here sitting on the couch at 4:32 in the morning with my youngest asleep in my arms as continue to work on sleep training in the weeks ahead.
