MY LIFE as a FUNERAL DIRECTOR • My Cherokee spiritual father from Catoosa, OK passed away with a massive heart attack while in his fifties. • I presided over my father’s funeral at Six Nations, ON. • I presided over my father-in-law’s funeral in Brantford, ON. • The church in Brantford, ON where I was married no longer exists. • The community hall in Ohsweken (Six Nations), ON where we held our wedding reception no longer exists. • The pool in Brantford, ON at the home of Bernie and Min Garvey where I was baptized has been filled in and is now a lawn. • I presided over the death of First Nations Institute at Hot Springs, SD, an Indigenous theological initiative that had the potential to change the face of Indigenous ministry in the United States and Canada. The campus of this promising enterprise is no more. Most of the buildings have been torn down and the land is now a wild turkey range with a few lonely deer passing through now and again. South Dakota has been the death of eight dreams for me, FNI was just the first. • My marriage of 17 years ended in divorce in Rapid City, SD. • I lost the best paying, most satisfying job in Native ministry with the best pension while in Rapid City, SD dealing with my dissolving marriage. • I lost my perfect, completely refinished home that was a perfect setting for our antique furniture in Rapid City, SD. • The mens small group that I had for three years during the dissolving of my marriage came to an end in Rapid City, SD when my children and I headed back to ON and a new home in Brantford. • I wept as I was driving along I-90 and went under the Highway 12 overpass that led to Pierre, SD and to a dear friendship that ended with a silent response to a request to visit. • I angrily wept at the futility of a deep friendship as I drove back to Rapid City, SD from Oglala on the Pine Ridge reservation. • I sadly wept and grieved deeply the ignoble end of a relationship and when I pass the exit to Dakota Territory my heart aches. • One of my dearest friends Richard Twiss from Vancouver, WA passed away as a young man due to a massive heart attack just like my spiritual father did. My on-the-job training has been in the care of the dying and the bereaved for most of my life. I started out wanting to design houses and buildings and have found myself walking with people through the grief process, grieving deeply myself at the same time. The most curious thing in the midst of all this death is – I have found a life I would not give for anything else. My children, family and friends have been the best companions in this long and sometimes lonely journey. Thank you for a grace that is so much like Creator.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 16:52:27 +0000
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