the end justifies the means???

This is gross a skull that I first saw lurking on a high shelf in Mario's bedroom at his parents house. After giving it a glance of disgust, I quickly added it to my mental list of items that would NOT make it into any joint living quarters.

When we moved into our house we went over to Mario's parents' to clean out his old room. When I saw him packing this I blurted in a high-pitched almost-shout "what are you doing?? Can't you leave that here?" He replied that he needed it to study.

Over the last year, this skull has continued to reappear. It goes something like this. Mario takes out skull to study. I see skull, I hide skull in some dark corner. Mario finds skull, ponders skull in what passes for studying, and then places skull prominently on bookshelves. I discover skull, hide skull in new place.

During these many months of skull hide-and-seek with involved much CONTACT with the skull, I go merrily about my way believing the skull is a fake, reproduced to study. Not too long ago, weary of the skull game, I threaten to get rid of it "once-and-for-all!!" Mario says I better not because he paid a significant amount of money for said skull. Not believing him, I asked him where the skull actually came from. This is the story.

The skull was his brother Paco's, who used it to study when in dental school. Paco went all about town to medical teaching supply stores looking for a skull, and couldn't find one. He mentioned this in a class, and some girl in his class offered to help him out. She went home to her small town CEMETERY and acquired this skull for Paco. Paco sawed the top off, and when he was done using it, passed it down to Mario. "where else would you get a skull" Mario asks me...

THIS WAS A REAL PERSON!

I am disgusted. This has been floating about my house for over a year now! I don't know exactly how it works, but not too long ago we took Mario's mom to the cemetery to visit her mother's grave. She pointed out to me her future grave site. I was confused, because it is occupied. She said she doesn't know exactly how it works either, but you pay for your grave site for a certain amount of time, then someone else buys it, and when the new owner bites the dust, you get dug up and they get placed in your spot. And apparently medical students needing skulls can just pop on by and pick one up!!


This is Mario receiving his latest in a growing list of diplomas. This was a three-year post-graduate course in Osteopathy. It was very difficult, intense, long, and out of the 60+ students that started the course, he was one of about 20 that finished. We are very proud of him, and hope he feels accomplished enough to take a break from studying for a while, and if we're really lucky, retire the skull. This is his professor - an French man who taught the class in Spanish, and who at the end made a small adjustment to Gabe's spine which has massively reduced the amount he vomits. Apparently it's common in babies that their stomach doesn't develop entirely and since all the nerves go to the spine, with small adjustments to vertebrae number 4 you can eliminate the acid reflex which was causing Gabe to vomit cup fulls all over me and the house. For that alone, the three years of study and dirty skull were worth it. And hey, now I'm ready for Halloween.