Post 10: ~I’m a Creep, I’m a Weirdo~

Hey everyone! Hope you're all well and ready to get back to blogging, as I can't wait to read what you have to say!

As I was reading the chapter of David Sedaris’s book, “Memento Mori”, it was a bit strange to me at how bothered Sedaris turned out to be by the human skeleton, with its constant repeating of “you are going to die”. I realized, as we discussed this section in class, that many people also found this creepy and morbid. Death is scary, no doubt, as humans are programmed to fear that which is unknown to us. I get that. It is just always a bit startling when I express my own love and appreciation for, as I like to call them, ‘dead things’, and others don’t share my interest. When I first started getting into ‘dead things’, I decided to think of each piece as a memory, collecting as many as possible in order to celebrate the life they lived through admiring their intricacies and uniqueness rather than focusing on the looming, imminent anxiety of death. It is important to remember these beings (human, animal, etc.) and the life they might have lived, even though I don’t usually know the life/background of the dead thing. I guess this is my own twist on Memento Mori, which is defined (as I found) as “an object serving as a warning or reminder of death, such as a skull”.

Because, in his book, Sedaris talks about the ways in which “certain objects convey a message” (154), I decided the only way to really explain why I love dead things is to tell you the messages that some of the pieces I own convey to me personally. I hope this helps those of you who don’t share an affinity for dead things (looking at you, my dear Kristina) see why I collect all of these morbid, creepy objects

• my teeth: I have kept both my wisdom teeth (from surgery) and baby teeth (my mom kept literally all of them). My baby teeth are stored in a little tube, and my friend Megan actually made earrings for me out of my wisdom teeth! (She’s in a band, has a shop for her homemade jewelry, and does art commissions all while being a full time student, what a legend) The message these teeth convey to me is: “You were not always as you are now”. They tell me I was younger and more naïve once, as I don’t remember most of my childhood, and the parts I do remember aren’t the happiest. They remind me I am human, I have a skeleton inside me. Can you tell I have dissociative tendencies?

the other earring broke, and now I am not sure where it is...
(sorry Megan)

thanks for saving all of these, Mom, bet you didn't expect I'd keep them!

•       cat skeleton: Karson and I found a full, untouched skeleton (at the time, we weren’t sure what it was, but have since identified it as a domestic cat) on a walk, right off the side of the road, very close to our apartment. It looked like it had been placed there after it died and hadn’t been moved since! It says to me: “The body may die, but you have the ability to bring new life”. I have a special place in my heart for cats, and as you all know I have my own little boy of my own, named Godfrey. Finding this skeleton reminded me of Godfrey, as well as the many dead cats and kittens I see on the side of the road on the way to class every day, and I have always wanted a cat skull! Though it is still sad, collecting and displaying this skeleton enables me to carry on the memory and life of this animal, even though I don’t know how it did actually live. Who knows, it may have even belonged to someone I know!

This is Godfrey, it is so cool to think he has a skull just like that in there. Also, look at those fangs!

here is how we found the skeleton, it looked like it hadn't moved since it died

• cow tooth: This is a very old bone that my Papaw (grandpa, husband of Mamaw, father of my mother) found on his farm, probably belonging to one of his or his ancestors’ cows that passed away. It says: “Love is expressed in unique, unusual ways”. Papaw is in his mid-70s and is the only positive father figure I have ever had, and though he is a farmer, hunter, and lover of animals, he doesn’t really get why I want/like all of these weird dead things. Even so, he still gets so excited when he finds something that he thinks I’ll like. This was the first thing he found and gave to me, after I asked him to keep an eye out for bones. I believe I was around 16 at the time, and I knew that his excitement despite his not relating to my interest meant that he loved me so much, and I really love him back (even though he is old and ignorant and can be kind of insensitive).

• shark jaws (and teeth): We have two bull shark jaws, as well as lots of shark teeth that aren’t pictured (some are Karson’s, some she gifted to me). The jaws I bought from a shop at the beach, and the shark teeth were all found by Karson at the beach! My brother and I have tried for years to find them on beach trips, to no avail. These things say: “You are returned the love that you put out”. Karson’s favorite animals are sharks, and they always remind me of her. These things remind me that I love and understand her, and that she loves and understands me right back.

from bottom to top, it is about the size of my palm

• baby opossum skeleton: This is another sad one, as Karson and I raised this opossum (Griffin) for a few months before he ended up passing away. These bones say: “The things you love most are going to inevitably die, and it will be okay. The love you have will not die with them”. Karson and I loved this little goofball so much and we tried so hard to give him a good life, but he was just too young to live without his mother. Even so, we still love to go through all of the pictures we have of him and talk about how sweet he was. He used to eat eggs with crushed up shells and after he was done, hours later, he’d start crunching on them again! He kept them stored in his cheeks! We haven’t reassembled or cleaned his bones yet, its all so tiny (and it’s still painful). But I love talking about Griffin and sharing him with others, hoping his memory will bring others joy as it has brought me.

you can see (around the middle of the picture) one side of his jaw, still with some little teeth in it

look at those little fingers! the teeth (refer to previous photo)! the nose!

we had to (very lightly and from a distance) dry him with a hairdryer after his bath!

Other miscellaneous pictures I wanted to include:

this is just one of 2-3 bat skeletons Karson, my little brother, and I found in the old house on my grandparents' property;
Karson and I soaked and cleaned all of the teeny bones and adhered them in this container in the (mostly) correct position.

from left to right: bobcat, domestic cat, fox
I think it is so interesting to observe the similarities and differences between these skulls, as they are all semi-feline animals

I think it is safe to say I relate to Hugh on this one, I hope one day to be able to have a real human skull, or maybe even a whole skeleton! 

Please know that dead things aren’t the only things that make me happy, there are so many different things that I see every day that are not associated with death and make me smile! For example: your beautiful faces (even though we may not see each other all at once again this semester), Nick’s shoutouts to “his HNRS 389 girls” (ow, my big ol’ heart), Cheyenne’s bag of candies that she made for us (I have found throughout this course that candy is one of the top 3 ways to my heart), and the daffodil I picked for Dr. H that she put with her other plant in a cup of water (she kept it!!!). Thanks for bringing joy to my life, and hopefully not judging me too much for my fascination with dead things.

THIS IS THE OFFICIAL END OF MY POST.

For those of you who may be a little curious about our baby opossum Griffin and our time with him, I am including an overview of our story and some pictures of him when he was still alive and crunching on eggshells with those sharp, tiny teeth. This has nothing to do with my main post, so don’t feel obligated to read any further.

My fiancée Karson, at the time, lived in Buckhannon and I in Bridgeport. On the day before she and I attend my senior prom (her first ever school dance!), Karson was outside and heard weird noises coming from her front yard (I tried for five minutes to find the words to describe the noise, but I am just going to include a link so you can hear it for yourself). Karson found about 12 tiny baby opossums scattered across the yard, it had been raining all day and they were clearly far too young to be away from their mom (who, we assumed, was either scared off or killed, as she would not have purposely left all of her babies).

the day they are found, wet and in the grass, calling for their mom

Karson took care of them every hour of the day and night, feeding and watering/helping them use the bathroom/adjusting the lighting and temperature constantly to keep them warm enough, but most didn’t make it through the first night. Like I said, they were way too young. After prom, we opted out of the stereotypical partying and belligerence (no judgment!) and went back to my mom’s house to take care of the few babies we had left.

this picture was taken the night of prom, after Karson and I returned to take care of the babies
(look at those claw-nails)

They didn’t even have their eyes open yet, and wouldn’t for another several days. Baby Lily died and Griffin was the only one we had left, and we often kept him very close to us. He liked to hang out in our shirts/hoods/in our hair, and once or twice I walked up to a loved one who was very surprised when I pulled a sleeping baby opossum out of my bra. It was warm and he got himself in there, okay?

look at those little hands!!!

just hangin' out

mother-son nap time!

He was doing well and making great progress (could even go to the bathroom on his own!), eyes opened and his fur grew in fully. He was so funny, he liked to give kisses and climb on us like a playground. Karson had to cut the bottom off of a soda can and sand the edges in order to make a water bowl small enough for him!

kisses!

Sadly, Griffin began to get sick and ended up passing away. Karson and I cried, and so did my mom and brother. And Karson’s mom, in New Jersey. This tiny little guy had such a large impact, all of my friends and teachers were so devastated to hear that he was gone. He brought a lot of joy to us for a short time, and we tried to give him the best life we could. I’m glad I got to write this, because I love talking about him and making other people smile with his goofiness. It’s what the little homie would have wanted.

Extra: If you haven’t already seen her page, here is the famous Opossum Lady of YouTube. I highly recommend checking her out.