Death of a Salesman

 Guess what; today I am going to be writing about death. 

Why death? My friend, Elisa from The Crazy life of a writing Mom is coming out with her new book and she wants us all to celebrate that by writing about death, actually about loss. I am a bit early( I think)  because I can not write tomorrow. Her book, “The Golden Sky” is about the loss of her infant son.

My experience with that is limited. I have lost a son due to a miscarriage and another due to the fact that I had to give him up for adoption, but I have never had to face death like she has. I have faced death though.  

The thing I can I can tell you about death is that it smells. Sweet and pungent it sticks to your skin. It is the kind of smell that does not easily wash off. If you have ever loved someone that has died, you take that smell with you. You wrap it around yourself like a blanket and take it to bed at night. You get out of bed and take a shower, but the smell is still there. Another thing about death is that it is so quiet and so full of noise at the same time. Stand there and listen to all the noise that surrounds death and you will hear nothing at all. Death can be your best friend, it will never leave you, but what you take with you from death can either drown or save you.

Many of you don’t know that I have a company. My husband and I started it when we bought a motel in the middle of Norway over 15 years ago. Like me, this company has been through some changes. Those first great expectations withered away and died when the market fell out. Needs change, we sold the motel, moved to a small town and started the company over again. Now don’t laugh, but I really do have to tell you about the death of a salesman.

From motel owner and part time retail man my husband went from selling computers to fixing them and he took our company with him. In the middle of nowhere Norway we soon found out that computers had no lifeline and the salesman slowly died. Out of those ashes a Fireman was born. I know, I have asked myself the same question. Where did the fireman come from? It really does not matter because today he is keeping us safe. The death of a salesman turned out to be the birth of another one. Yesterday our company was selling rooms and computer fix overs; today our company is selling life protection. After working as a fireman for a while and seeing the death that fire creates, my husband decided to change our company and to sell fire protection instead. He now installs fire equipment and teaches classes about fire prevention all over Norway.

I know that this is not the kind of story you were expecting. Most of you have probably experienced a terrible loss and what I have written about must seem very trivial to you. The fact is that I could go on and on about how terrible death is. You already know that and you live with it every day. Let it drown you or save you. Your choice…