Tuesday, December 31, 2013

May Old Acquaintance Be Forgot...

Hello? *dusting off blog and looking around*  Anybody still out there?  I know it’s been a while. Well, seven years may be more than a "while".  

You see, after marrying Light-Haired Man (LHM) I took a break from the "death scene" (har har) and spent a few years..shall we say...concentrating on life.  But I am a death investigator at heart and so it was inevitable that the lure of puzzling together a crime scene would draw me back in eventually. But this time around I’m working in the big, Big City.  A place where the thought of only bringing in one homicide a day, 365 days a year, is laughable.  

As my day today has so poignantly reminded me, I will often have a lot to get off my chest at the end of a shift. And it is going to be up to me to figure out the best way to stay compassionate, "soft", and positive for those who fall within my circle of influence. Anybody who chooses to stay in my line of work for very long has to figure out how to handle being constantly bombarded with human tragedy. Some try to escape from the pain with drink or drugs. Some withdraw and curl into themselves, fearing the compassion that causes them to hurt for those who suffer. And some become bitter, dark, and twisted up...refusing to allow themselves to see a victim (alive or dead) as human and, therefore, slowly losing their own humanity.  

As for me? Well, I blog.

So, for the sake of simplicity, I will be assigning names to coworkers and professional associates in alphabetical order as they appear in posts.  Also, as a reminder, though the stories on this blog are based on real events they are also altered enough to protect the identities of both the living and the dead.  And since it’s a new blog, maybe it’s time for a new name for me, too.  Polly PI isn’t quite appropriate for somebody who is no longer a private investigator.  So, how about Polly ME… for medical examiner?  

Along the same lines, while I am pretty sure a monkey could figure out what Big City I am working for after a few posts, please try not to mention it by name in comments.  I’d like the existence of my blog to fly under the radar for as long as possible and that will require some stealthy, sneaky deviousness. I hope you understand...

Polly