The Lodge Lesson by Bill Denning
Back in 1999, I was a newly licensed funeral director working in the near north of the Bruce Peninsula. My boss was a very hard-working and thoughtful person. He loved his profession, and he loved the families he served. But he was also a worrier. One day, we took a death call that I thought was going to worry him into an early grave. It was early January when the owner of a local lakeside resort died. He and his wife operated a historic lodge that they had called home for many years. The lodge was built in 1949, constructed of timber from the surrounding woods, with a huge field stone fireplace as the centrepiece. People would come from all over to enjoy the peace and the beautiful sunsets. There was no place in the world the old fellow would rather be, so it came as no surprise when his wife asked if she could have his visitation and funeral in the ‘great room’ of the lodge on the banks of Lake Huron. I was excited to help facilitate this request, but my boss was concerned. This was to be a two- or three-day wake, with the guest of honour remaining at the lodge, laid out in his casket. Normally, the deceased stays at the funeral home where we can keep an eye on things and address any issues (Mother Nature can be delayed but she cannot be stopped). On top of that, the weatherman had forecasted a significant winter storm which had the potential of closing roads. My boss acquiesced to the important request, and we delivered the gent to the place he loved.
It wasn’t an hour after we returned to the funeral home that the snow begun to fall. By morning, it was four feet of snow and not a plow in sight. The old lady was literally snowed in, along with her dead husband. We called frequently to see how she was doing. Instead of being completely freaked out by the situation, she was fine. Actually, she was grateful. She was grateful for the snowstorm that gave her more time to sit with her husband, next to the fireplace as they always had done on snowy days. She taught me that life (and sometimes death) is made a little better by focusing on the falling snow, not on the shovel.
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Real Living • Winter 2023 •
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