Going Down the Road with a Hearse and a Crematorium

It’s been just over a year since I visited with my niece, Becca, in Colorado. It was a pleasant day. Melanie was there as well. We had lunch and then we had ice cream. What a great memory. Doesn’t she look happy?

Then she shared with me that she was considering going back to school to study mortuary science. This means she has an interest in becoming a funeral director! What fun! It does run in the family. My Dad was a funeral director for Memphis Funeral Home. Have I shared this before? I also worked at Memphis Funeral Home when I was working on my bachelor’s degree at Memphis State University. This was the funeral home that buried Elvis Presley which remains my closest brush with greatness to this day.

Well, somewhere on Facebook I saw a link with a Funeral Museum in Vienna, Austria that sold Lego kits that represented various aspects of the funeral business. And, of course, being the self respecting Aunt that I am, I wanted to share this with Becca. Just in case you are wondering and don’t speak German, a Leichenwagen is a Hearse. Now, I haven’t exactly shared it with Becca yet, but as soon as I mail these two packages to her, then I will have officially shared. And if she reads this blog, all of the surprise will be gone. Except for the fact that she will have to assemble it herself. There are many pieces and picture directions and lots of German which neither she nor I speak. More fun!

Ordering these items from the Vienna Funeral Museum was quite the process. Much of their website is in German, because they are located in Austria. The cost for these items was listed in euros. I have many friends who have traveled all around the world, but I have not. I have never paid for anything in euros, but lucky for me, PayPal is good at converting dollars to euros so this American didn’t have to stretch her brain too far. In the process I emailed the Museum a couple of times and communicated with an Erich and a Helga who were most helpful in assisting me with the order. Google helped by providing lots of translations between German and English. The order was placed, dollars converted, the package left Austria and landed in America in about two days.

Then the package sat in customs. Then it sat somewhere in New York. Then the package sat in New Jersey. It only took about a month to get from New York to New Jersey. Was Customs building a file on me? I still don’t know.

Once the package left New Jersey, it made it’s way to Houston within a week and was out for delivery. But Oh No!!! There was a problem with the address. It was not delivered. If I didn’t act soon, it would have been sent back to sender. I went to the Post Office and at last was handed the package that had journeyed for so long to find me.

Now all that is left is sending the package on to Becca. Hopefully I will send it sometime this week and not let it sit here for a month like the Customs office. I hope I haven’t completely ruined the surprise by revealing all in this blog, but as I said before, there is the process of assembly.

It’s not every Aunt that will look forward to sharing hearses and crematoriums with her niece. I am very proud to be just such an Aunt. Happy Birthday, Becca!

Until next week.….