Oct 18 2008
Will I Really Care?
I had an interesting thought the other day at work. I have been doing a lot of hair for funerals lately. One of my clients’ sisters passed away. Another client has lost a brother and a sister in the last 4 months. One of my clients that had been in and out of the hospital for the past year passed away last month. I do her daughters’ hair, one weekly, and the other when she is in town. Then, two weeks ago, their father’s first wife passed away. I used to do her hair many years ago, and l have done most of her children at one time or another.
For those of you not familiar with funerals in the Black community, let me fill you in. Morticians are revered and respected. Loyalty is fierce concerning Funeral Homes. Normally, the funeral will not take place in three days. It will be in five to seven days. Flowers girls are chosen. They are responsible for carrying all of the flowers out after the funeral so that they may be transported to the cemetery. A funeral is more often a family reunion and a celebration about someone going home to Heaven than a sad time. All of the family is notified and must have time to fly or drive home. It has to be decided who will stay with whom, and the church kitchen crew must be called. Dinner will be served, and not just to the family. We are talking about feeding everyone at the funeral, upwards of two to three hundred sometimes, and we are not talking cold cuts. We are talking fried chicken, baked chicken and dressing, meatloaf, potato salad, baked macaroni and cheese, lots of other sides, and plenty of chess pie and other desserts. The ladies in the kitchen have it together. They have been doing it for a long time. The servers will be in place when the family walks in, and of course, they eat first.
Hair appointments must be made for the deceased, those coming in, and your own appointment may have to be changed. You may be sad, but when you walk into that funeral, you had better look sharp. You wouldn’t want your Mama, or even more so, your Grandmother, or “Big Mama,” to raise up out of that casket and tell you about yourself because “You were raised better.” You have to “Represent,” the deceased and your family, and it is a given that you will look good. Besides, you are going to see a lot of people that you haven’t seen in a long time.
I have over 250 phone numbers in my phone, but some of these clients I see every week, some of them I might see every 6 weeks for a relaxer. Some I see every two weeks. All of my clients will not need a hair appointment for each funeral, except one.
Here is where my interesting thought comes in. God forbid, if something happens to me, who is going to do all of my clients’ hair for my funeral??????????
