Embalming: Art or Science?

Here is a short essay by an embalmer I thought you might enjoy:

Many people engage in activities that are generally appreciated by the public. Artists, athletes, musicians, and performers have all acquired skills that are admired by their respective audiences. The end result of the artistic activity in which I engage also has an audience, but is generally underappreciated, misunderstood, or avoided. I am an embalmer.
I pride myself in my science – or is it an art? A good embalmer has to evaluate each client that graces his canvas. Taking into account the decedent’s age, weight, cause of death, medications, and interval since the time of death, are all factors that must be noted before the chemical cocktail is mixed. The appropriate ratios of Formaldehyde, dyes, humectants, injection pressure, and dilution are all colors on the palette. Only experience can foresee a plausible outcome.
In the living, the eyes are the center of expression; but in the not-so-living, it is the mouth. The lifeless lips before me once laughed, frowned, flirted, and now ceased. Now I must sum up that life with a casketed monument that will be seen by all those who loved it. Whatever expression I create on the pallid face will be set in stone, to be viewed during an encore following the closing of the final curtain.
The next time you approach an open casket, soon to be a buried treasure, allow your retained breath to become a sigh. Take time to appreciate the opportunity to see your loved one again: an opportunity that came as the result of a skilled mortician. Take comfort in the rosy-colored icon that was once your mother, or sister, or friend. Touch her hand and kiss her forehead, and say, “Good night”.