Death is a fact of life.  We must all face the inevitable end of our lives, though we all hope that it will come after a long and happy lifetime that will be an example to others.  Nevertheless, it is a fact that life ends one day for all of us.  When that time comes, we go on to another life leaving our bodies behind.  Our bodies must be buried or cremated.  It is the job of the undertaker to do these things.
        An undertaker prepares the body of a person who has died for burial or cremation.  But first, the person's family and friends may wish to pay their last respects and show that they cared for that person.  Thus, the body of the person who dies is "laid out" for viewing.  The undertaker prepares the body to be viewed at what is called a wake or a viewing.
        In order to do so, the body is prepared by being embalmed.  Though some religions do not embalm but bury the body the day after death.  The undertaker knows what must be done and, in consultation with the family, performs what services are required.  He or she also arranges for the funeral service and burial.
        Undertakers may be trained at schools.  However, most learn from their families.  Undertaking is one of the few businesses that remain predominantly family businesses passed down from one generation to the next.

NANNY

        Nanny was Edward's great grandmother.  She was a small, smiling lady with white hair and large green eyes that always smiled when she saw him.  Now, Nanny was gone.  She had become ill only a few days ago and left in her sleep day before yesterday.
        Edward's father explained to him why she would not be there to laugh and smile and hug him anymore, but Edward knew what death meant and that old people, and even some young people, died.  He would miss Nanny though.  She made him feel special whenever he saw her.
        The night before the funeral, Edward's parents took him to the funeral parlor to visit nanny for the last time.  She was lying there before a purple curtain and beneath a gold crucifix.  Edward thought that she looked like she was sleeping.  His mother said that she would look like that and was right.
        The undertaker had combed her white hair and put a dress on her.  She had makeup on her face that Edward had never seen her wear before.  Her lips were turned up slightly in a smile that he knew very well.  Edward knelt down with his mother next to Nanny and said a prayer for her.
        The next day he went to the funeral and the cemetery where Nanny was laid to rest next to her husband who had died before Edward was born.  There were many people at the funeral and the cemetery.  Nanny was well known and well liked.  Edward was happy that so many people liked her because he liked her too.  And, as his father had said, she was gone to a better life.

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