I Read Obituaries

About a year ago, I had read the entire daily newspaper -- except the obituaries. Before that, I never read the obits because, well, my friends are young and if any relatives die I'll get a phone call. Because I was bored and did not really want to do what I had to do next (probably cleaning), I killed time by reading the obits.

That day I discovered an acquaintance of ours from our dart league days had died. His name was Gary, and though we weren't close, we always had a good time throwing darts with Gary and looked forward to seeing him at tournaments. The shocking thing to me -- Gary was younger than us! In fact, he was more than 10 years younger than us.

A few months later I was thinking about Gary and decided to scan the obits again. This time a member of my walking club had died. Becky was older than I am and had been sick for quite a while, so it was not shocking. Still, I always liked Becky and will miss her.

Since then, I've discovered the deaths of other people I know: members of my church, parents and spouses of friends and acquaintances... all in the newspaper.

Part of me is glad I was able to contact relatives and offer condolences. But then part of me is sad. How did my friends and I get old enough that I need to read the obituaries to check on them!