Page 63 - THE ENDLESS WAVE | Skateboarding, Death & Spirituality

THE ENDLESS WAVE | PART ONE
Difficult People & Death
In the summer of 2021, I arrived along with my two other teammates at a stunning house on an extremely fancy street. I’d say the house was prob- ably worth well north of 7 million dollars — and that’s not including all the art inside. It was a planned death or what we would also call a medically assisted death. These calls are generally peaceful. While there is sadness in the air, there is also relief.
We carefully maneuvered around the sculptures and transferred the woman out of the house. We spoke very little and had just a brief interaction with the family. Within 10 minutes, we were on our way back to the funeral home.
The next day, about 25 people showed up for the funeral. There was only one speaker, and he was not part of the family. His eulogy went on for almost thirty minutes. If I could pick two words to describe it, I’d choose “brutally authen- tic.” While I had never had the chance/misfortune to meet this woman, she seemed like a real piece of work.
We have all encountered “difficult” or “challenging” people. These descrip- tions are just euphemisms. More often than not, we simply call these people bitches, bastards or assholes. Some seem to take great pleasure in other’s pain. We all have bad days, but these people have perpetual bad months, years, dec- ades and lifetimes.
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