Dear Reader:

I have never been an obituary reader…unless, of course, the death announcement involves someone very close to me. But I don’t read the obituaries daily or  “religiously” like some folks. In fact I have always gotten tickled at people who seem pretty obsessive about it.

Take, for example my grandmother. She sure was an avid and loyal reader. It was the first thing she checked when the paper arrived. When I would spend summers with her I would listen to her and her friends (in a circle shelling beans) discussing the merits of someone’s obituary notice or what was left out and why. One good obituary could keep grandmother ‘in the know’ for a week.

When my brother Ben delivered newspapers one summer to make some spending money…the only angry calls he got was when the paper wasn’t delivered on time or was lost behind a bush or something. And it wasn’t even about the newspaper, itself per se, but several people  missed reading the obituary section and wanted to know if  Ben, at least, could come back and drop off that section to them so they could keep up. (Implication, of course, curious as to whom was still living and who was not.)

I have often thought to myself that someone must be way down on the reporting “totem pole” chain to get “stuck” writing obituaries but as I discovered…many reporters love writing obituaries and do it all their lives.

Several obituary writers commented that obituaries aren’t about death but life and a morality lesson on how to live it. One writer cited six things obituaries teach us about life:

1. Don’t Wait: Act Now
2. *Humor Always Has a Place
3. Be Bold: Live a life worth writing about
4. Be Thankful: “It was people who paused to appreciate life and give thanks who were the happiest.” 
5. Everyone is human and as such had weaknesses as well as strengths
6. Put relationships first. “Be nice…  No matter what you accomplish, how you treat people has a lot to do with how you will be remembered.”

*I came across this funny little “obituary” in a church newsletter while researching this topic and it did make me pause and smile.

Obituary of Someone Else

I know that all of you were saddened to learn this week of the death of one of our church’s most valuable members — Someone Else.

Someone’s passing created a vacancy that will be difficult to fill.  Else has been with us for many years, and for every one of those years, Someone did far more than the normal person’s share of the work.  Whenever leadership was mentioned, this wonderful person was looked to for inspiration as well as results.  Someone Else can work with that group.  Whenever there was a job to do, a class to teach, or a meeting to attend, one name was on everyone’s lips, “Let Someone Else do it.”  It was common knowledge that Someone Else was among the largest givers in the church.  Whenever there was a financial need, everyone just assumed that Someone Else would make up the difference.

Someone Else was a wonderful person, sometimes appearing super-human, but a person can only do so much.  Were the truth known, everyone expected too much of Someone Else.  Now Someone Else is gone.  We wonder what we are going to do.  Someone Else left a wonderful example to follow, but who is going to follow it?  Who is going to do the things Someone Else did?  Remember, we can’t depend on Someone Else anymore.
– Author Unknown –

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* I remember a few years when the Oprah Show was still on each afternoon at 4…she had a young woman, her husband and small children on her show….she had advanced cancer but she had the most joyous take on life filled with humor that made the audience laugh through tears. A few weeks after this initial episode Oprah announced the young woman, wife, and mother had died but her husband had sent a photo of what she had secretly arranged to have engraved on her tombstone. When He had gone to see it…he sat down on the ground by the marker and laughed and cried at the same time…only his wife could have come up with this.

She was buried on the banks of a beautiful river (overlooking it) in a peaceful old cemetery…the words on the tombstone read: Would you please move…you are blocking my view. A sense of humor to the end.

So until tomorrow….Let’s all live a life “worth writing about.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Oops! I almost forgot today is the first day of the month….lovely October has arrived and brought with it much cooler weather. I appreciate it already. My two faithful rabbits stand sentry duty on each side of the blooming lantanas…great job guys! Don’t forget to say “rabbit” first thing today for a wonderful month!

I must have to thank my feathered friends for transporting this little purple beauty and plopping it down right beside Rutledge’s Japanese Maple.

Since we didn’t get any rain from the weathermen’s predictions Friday…I had to break down and water yesterday morning. That’s when I discovered it. Shimmering in the sunlight.