Reading the Obits

When did I begin reading Obituaries on Saturday morning?  I mean, is this an aging thing? 

To check out who has died?

I didn’t start reading the Obits because of some weird morbid curiosity. Or, to learn how people eulogize the loss of their loved ones. I tuned in to read their stories... How did these people live? What did they do? And, in some cases  - I hate to admit - how did they die?

I learn a lot from these people…

Stanley was a holocaust survivor. “Loved by everyone who knew him.”

Jeanne lived to the ripe age of 94 until a stroke took her out. She was a “crackerjack bridge player” and an “avid golfer.” She and her husband formed “lifelong friends.”

Sue, 86, enjoyed extensive travel, reading and her second home on Waikiki Beach.

And, there’s Harold, 98, who had a “zest for life, learning and exotic foods.”

Of course, there are those who suffered with long battles with disease and one in particular this Saturday morning, David, 56, who suffered from a terrible accident at 15 that left him a quadriplegic. Complex medical issues finally took him, but what an outstanding man he was to go on to earn his BS and MS in Computer Science which led him to a career in computer program development and trouble shooting for Rockwell, Oracle and Sun Microsystems.  His family uses “courage, generosity, and optimism” to describe him.

Then, sadly, there are the young lives lost way too soon, leaving me to wonder why? How? I study their faces…

Still, the take away is mostly positive. No matter what the age, each individual has left his or her imprint, left something, perhaps even a lesson for us to learn.

This makes me think about Erma Bombeck, the illustrious American Journalist who found humor in the mundane lives of suburban housewives…”If I had it to do all over again,” she said, “I wouldn’t worry so much about the dust.”