I read obituaries

 I don't think of myself as being obsessed with/ by death.  It's something that we all go through.  Now that my parents, my brother, and my in-laws are dead I am probably more profoundly aware of my own mortality than I was when they were still living.

Over the 50 years that Nick and I have been together we have lost many pets to death.  It's been so sad and terrible and hard to understand.  Sometimes unexpected but it's what happens when you live with domestic animals.   You enter into the parent roll with pets with the knowledge, perhaps hope, that you will outlive them.      Our pets are our "babies" in a special way and we have a special bond with them.   But in general our relationship with our pets is only shared with a few people.

The people in our lives, on the other hand, have lives outside of their relationships with us.   We don't "own" our family and friends.  We share them with the world.   

Now, back to my saying that I read obituaries.  Why do I read them?   I don't think it is macrabe, although I have been known to have a black sense of humor.   No, I read them because they are interesting.  I learn about people who somebody cared enough about to write a few words to share.   The most basic obits says "he left to be with our Lord".   More detailed ones have the person's whole life history  A story of where they were born, what they did professionally, who they left behind and who pre-deceased them.   Often I will find myself feeling a connection and even a bond with someone I had never heard of before.   My world grows in this way.

Occasionally, I will see the name of someone I know/ knew.   And a memory of that person elicits is the thought of how I knew them.  

The world is diminished by the loss of an individual yet often, enhanced by the person's contributions to their family, friends and community.

I have more thoughts on this.  Maybe I will write more on the subject at another time.