We can only get one local paper delivered daily. It contains mostly reprints of AP articles with a few good local columnists, a terrible anonymous speakout section, where people rant, and of course obituaries.

Perhaps it’s a function of my age, but I am becoming my mother.  I read the obituaries. This week had two interesting ones. The first was comical. The widower was referred to as irritating, the cat was annoying and there was a snail,  two extra spouses and a lover mentioned.

In general, I’ve been encouraged by how long people live here and young deaths are less common. Yesterday, there was an obituary for a man in his 40’s. In reading it, I learned that he was predeceased by his wife. In my mind, I thought perhaps he was so distraught by her death he committed suicide.

I was partly right. Today’s paper had an article about the murder – suicide that led to his death. He was predeceased by his wife.