
The Denial of Death: Why we run from the inevitable
Posted by Martin Oaks under Community, Cremation, Hello world, Memorial, Resources
The chief embalmer of a busy funeral home recently remarked, “No matter how often I do this procedure, I am always struck by how we end up here on the table by ourselves. We are in a single file line, we all die alone.” The cornerstone of human existence is its temporal nature. “None of […]
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Nostalgia: The Powerful Taste of Long Ago
Posted by Martin Oaks under Community, Hello world, Memorial, Resources
The Madeleine Tea Cake is the most renowned pastry in world literature. When Marcel Proust’s narrator in Remembrance of Things Past began eating the sponge cake after it had been dipped into warm tea, a flood of memories was released—a watershed of seven volumes, 1.5 million words. Here is that celebrated moment: “As soon as I […]
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Even Experts Can Be Fooled By Silent Heart Attacks
Bill Schaffer, a retired Emergency Medical Technician, did not recognize the symptoms of his heart problems. The stabbing pain in his back was something Schaffer thought a chiropractor could address. The indigestion was just part of being 57 years old. Then, one weekend, reality hit like a lightning strike: “I started feeling funny prior to […]
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Why we wanted Christmas to come earlier this year
The Halls certainly got decked early this past Christmas. According to retail reports, outdoor lighting displays began brisk sales as early as August of 2020 — these sales usually take off closer to Thanksgiving. The Washington Post reported that the Virginia Christmas Lighting and Decor Company, which offers home decorating services, began hanging lights in September, well […]
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Helping Children Understand COVID and Death
Posted by Martin Oaks under Community, Cremation, Hello world, Resources
2020 was truly the year of living dangerously. In the United States, when the final numbers are in, more than 3,000,000 will have died. Although Covid-19 claimed more than 300,000 of those lives in this country, it was not the only culprit. Deaths were up in many categories, including coronary heart disease, diabetes, and high […]
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