Awful

Since dying is one thing that we all must do, sympathy work is inevitable in the floral business. However, there are degrees of sadness associated with funerals.

You have the ones where the person was very old or very ill, and they're no longer miserable/suffering. Sad, but not completely awful for the friends and family.

Then there's the unexpected deaths- very upsetting for the loved ones, and from a professional standpoint, more difficult to keep your composure when assisting those associated with the deceased.

The most horrid, the absolute worst- a child's funeral. Nothing worse. Nothing.

We've one tomorrow.

I've done many consults for funeral flowers, and I must say, I've never started bawling during one. Till yesterday. I pulled myself together pretty quickly, but... my God.

The utter, utter devastation on the faces of the parents... I couldn't sleep last night. The mom's face kept popping up in my dreams.

She just stood there, tears pouring down her face. The dad cried like a baby.

I've no words. It was the hardest thing I've ever done. But you know, I know that making things special for them might, MIGHT make the day slightly less horrendous.

No, nothing will. They're forever changed.

And since we're in a small town, we know everyone involved, which makes it so much worse. One of my best friends was his preschool teacher. His dad was on the fire department with mine. His mom is a very good customer at the shop. His sister just applied for a job here.

I don't know how we flower girls are going to get through tomorrow. I can't even comprehend what his family is going through. But still, we must go on.