I made a new friend at the Story-Catcher event Tuesday night. She owns a funeral home.

In the past, I've toyed with the idea of working in a funeral home as a funeral director because I'm not afraid to be present with families who are grieving. I'd like to think that I'm good at it, actually. Even if my new friend wasn't hilarious and fun to be around, I'd still want to get together with her to talk about her experiences. The whole funeral home business fascinates me for some reason.

Yes, I'm fully willing to admit that I'm an odd duck.

Our volunteer coordinator expressly forbid (he was joking!) us to hang out together. He said that the world is not quite ready for the two of us combined in any sort of gathering. Of course, that makes me want to hang out with her even more.

She has one vehicle. It happens to have the name of her funeral home all over it, which of course could be alarming to Hospice patient families.

She shared a story about one of her visits with a Hospice patient. She tries to park her vehicle down the road, rather than in the driveway, but I guess that's not far enough because a family member came rushing through the front door and was stunned to see the Hospice patient alive and well yacking it up with my friend.

For some reason, I can't stop giggling about that scene. I probably shouldn't, but I do.

One might think that it's awfully convenient for a funeral director to be a Hospice patient-care volunteer, but we have rules and guidelines in place where you cannot profit in ANY way from anyone you're assigned to. She shared with me that she decided to become a volunteer because, like me, she's really good with people in crisis and felt that she wanted to share her talents in a non-profit environment. I think that's really cool.

I like it that she's irreverent like me. There's a time to be somber and reverent, but you can't be that way ALL the time. Well, I guess you can- but you sure wouldn't be any fun to hang with.

I wonder if she'd let me job shadow her sometime. I wouldn't want to do this for a living- - I love what I do, but I'd like to get this silly fascination out of my head.

Have you ever had a strange fascination with something completely wacky?