Death Day in Redondo?

Things come in threes, we all know that. First I ran across an unusual Web site which led to others. Female funeral directors are still "unusual" today. Thinking in the past was that they couldn't do the physical part (heaving bodies around) and that their sensibilities were far too tender for this business. Today the thinking has reversed: women are more compassionate, more comfortable giving a mourner a hug than a man would be. The Funeral Divas mission statement is: Our purpose is to encourage and uplift every woman in the funeral industry and have fun at the same time. Apparently toward that end, they are having a retreat in mid-July at the Montage Resort, Laguna Beach. (Doubles $1,170; singles $1,650.) FuneralDivas.com spotlighted one of their members who makes cremation jewelry. Well you may ask - LoveAshes.com uses dichroic glass (created for use by NASA.) She fuses the ashes into the glass, concentrating the ashes where the jewelry will touch the wearer's skin. Pendant $155; earrings $48. I will pause and let your mind touch down on the idea of having a loved one's ashes dangling from your ears. FuneralWire.com is apparently the Drudge Report of the funeral industry. Incidentaly, they are partnered with the American Cancer Society which I found a bit alarming... but it reminds me, too, of a local marketing opportunity. Sunrise is an assisted living residence for senior citizens. Directly across their parking lot is a branch of the Neptune Society! One-stop Shopping Extreme. This morning the Daily Breeze ran an editorial by Mitch Albom headlined "No Webcams At My Funeral." I was stunned to learn that nowadays many funerals are shown merely by using a tripod, a camera and a Web feed. You'd be told the day and time and the site and you can sit there in front of your computer and "go to the funeral." I side with Albom. A funeral, in a way, isn't about the person who died. It's the people who were left behind who need the comfort of an acknowledgement of loss and the show of respect when you have to travel to get there or ask the boss for a day off. I nodded appreciatively and then turned on the laptop to find that my sister had sent me an obituary for the death of "Reason." If there are no paragraphs, it's the Website. I went back and put four (4) lines between each paragraph.