Twitter for the Grim Reaper

Don’t think I’m morbid, but lately I’m finding myself reading the obituaries and being completely intrigued. I can’t help it. I love looking at the photos families have chosen of their loved ones, reading what these people did and wondering about their lives.

That’s because their orbits aren’t about their death, but telling the story of their life – in 200 words or less. It’s kind of like twitter for the Grim Reaper.

Sometimes the people I see become inspiration for characters in my stories and other times I just like to wonder about what they did during their lifetime.

Today I saw a woman who was born in 1919. She lived through women’s rights, a couple World Wars, the invention of TV and much more. I can’t help but wonder what other things she lived through. How many did people she love in her lifetime? Did she ever have her heart broken? What day was her “best” day? People never seem to mention these things in their obituaries.  Instead, it's always about numbers -- how many kids she had, how many years she lived and how many people will remember her.

Then there’s Lucy. It was her photo and her smile that drew me to her.

Lucy wasn’t in the orbits. Her photo was in the memorandums. All it said was she left them unexpectedly 35 years ago and they remember her laughing, having fun and going to wrestling. I look at her photo and I wonder was Lucy the wrestler or was it her husband, brother or child? And why was wrestling the thing mentioned in this message?

And most of all...I'm wondering why she died unexpectedly.  Was it a car crash? Cancer? Maybe she's not dead at all and just "left" them.

The orbits, like life, are a puzzle. You never know what they will reveal.

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