Honor from China

Not only did I do removals at the mortuary but I also got the chance to learn cosmetics from two of  the most amazing women every when it comes to that job.  Mary was the first to teach me her secrets.  A staple of the society we lived in, Mary had lived in the city for years.  In her 80s when I met her and still doing her job while smoking like a chimney she was amazing.  The tricks and tips she learned and gave were only there for me to absorb because of her years in the business.  Mary had gone to cosmetology school way back when.  When she finished she went to work for the mortuary doing piece work (hair and cosmetics only and when she was needed).  Mary had been at the same mortuary for over 60 years.  Most people aren't even in a marriage that long.  The second cosmetologist I worked with was Sharone.  Sharone was a white-girl with the black-girl attitude.  Her children were mixed and she only dated black men giving her that certain attitude that makes you giggle because she is a white-girl.  Her talent was great.  She knew just the right colors and amount of make-up to use without making them look like a porcelain doll that is plastered with make-up.  Both of these women taught me their tricks over the years and gave me the ability to because decent at cosmetics.  It isn't like putting make-up on living skin.  Living skin has elasticity because of your muscles still having control, pores absorb and expel, there is life in the skin that works with make-up.  The skin of a deceased is dry.  If they are embalmed it is firm because of the chemicals used, will absorb anything because of the drying chemicals and sometimes discolored horribly.  Unembalmed skin is even worse.  There is no firmness to it, any pull of the brush moves the skin with it, it's a little slimy because of the sebum of the skin not being washed off and has a huge lack of color to it usually.  It's more artistic like painting that being a cosmetologist.  My favorite part of it was using the molding was to repair trauma and missing parts of a persons face.  The sculpting skill needed to make a person resemble their pictures when what was there is gone is really challenging and fun.  One day at the mortuary we heard a tour bus crashed.  Several people died in the accident and some of them were family of some prominent Chinese officials.  We got those people.  I happened to be working on the day that they needed to be dressed and ready for family viewing.  Their faces had been crushed in the accident and there was discoloration and road burn marks on their faces.  With the skillful work of my hands I was able to wax and apply make-up to make them look surprisingly well.  We cleaned them up and put them in viewing rooms and awaited the arrival of their families.  To my surprise I was requested across the street to the mortuary to meet with them.  Dressed only in a pair of crappy scrubs I felt self conscious meeting Chinese Officials.  When I walked into the room an interpreter walked up to me.  The family was so very pleased with their appearance and grateful that I had given them the opportunity to say good-bye to their loved ones that they wanted to personally thank me and then a man took my picture.  I later found out that he was writing an article for a paper over in China on the accident and the work done on the deceased.  It's amazing to think that somewhere in China there is an article containing a picture of me.  I was blessed that day to feel like my job made a difference in someones life positively.  That's a rare feeling when taking someone's deceased loved one.