Rico Rourk sums up his average day in a way many of us may struggle with: "A lot of families deal with a loss one or two times in a lifetime. I deal with it probably five times a day."
It's amazing how much you can learn about life when you talk to people make their living dealing with death.
"Everybody impacts me because I think, me myself, I've buried both of my parents. And this is somebody's loved one we're putting into the ground," said Martin Garinian
Rourk and Garinian work at a cemetery, Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens in Roanoke. They only have 12 years combined experience here, but among them, their perspective on life has changed tremendously.
"My outlook on life is enjoy it because I deal with people who lose someone on a daily basis," said Rourk.
"People are born, people pass. It's a cycle, it is what it is," said Garinian.
During our interview with Garinian, you may hear things you, your family, friends and neighbors dealt with in 2012.
When talking about how this year's drought has led to a tougher ground, his tractor has experienced what many of us did this year: "A lot of stress, a lot of strain."
When talking about how digging graves isn't always orderly we can relate to life being "A mess sometimes, it really is."
And when talking about the difference between every funeral, we can take a lesson that when we look at every day: "Every one of them's different."
So if your 2012 was tough, look to these men for enlightenment, for they watch people struggle every single day.
"My advice would just be to take it one day at a time and just make the most of it," said Garinian.
"Take it one day at a time, you know. That's all we do, that's all we can do," said Rourk.
So do the best you can to bury the tough parts of 2012 and look forward to the good in 2013, because remember, it's all about perspective.
