Odd Habit

I've been reading the obituaries from my hometown lately. Each day as I check out updated blogs, I eventually checking out the obit section of the online version of my hometown's paper.

A friend of the family, who was also our family doctor, died recently. Since my parents' divorce, his wife is one of the few people that still keeps rather constant contact with my mom. When I arrived at my mom's house (she now lives elsewhere) on the day before Mother's Day, she was on the phone with her friend. She had called to say that she had just come back from Jim's funeral and was so sorry that she hadn't called earlier in the week when he passed away. Almost instinctively, I went to the paper's website to find his obit. I thought to myself that I should check it often so such a situation could be avoided in the future.

But yesterday, as I was looking at the listing of life's accomplishments, loved ones gone before and loved ones left behind, I stopped and wondered to myself how I will feel when I come across a name I know. Maybe I'd rather learn of the passing of someone else another way. I'm feeling more and more detached from the place I called home for over 20 years and am not certain I will learn another way. There's no good way to learn of a death anyway.