Writing the obituary

Last week, when I felt Daddy wasn't going to live much longer, I started composing his obituary. Just the basics, born, X's for date of death, wives, children and grandchildren, a brief mention of how he spent his life.

Then he died and the time for serious composing was here. I thought I had a good one until I talked with one of the nurses who had taken care of him the last days.

She said, and especially for the Alzheimer's unit, how she wished that when the patients admitted, they came with pre-written obits. Perhaps, bio might be a better word, families shrinking from the idea of writing obituaries perhaps years in advance. But, she told me, so often she didn't find out the interesting things their patients had done until they died. How wonderful it would have been to know these things earlier, so they could be discussed and enjoyed.

Of a sudden, my obituary for Daddy was plain and uninteresting, unfocussed. I tweaked and tweaked and I think I made it far better.

Here's the link to the e-news article.

Today we said good-bye with remembrances and stories. Good-bye to a good man and a life that might not have always been easy, but it was memorable.