Points to Ponder

When Mark and I married, twenty years ago, I moved to the small town that he had adopted as his own several years earlier. 

To aclimate myself, I began reading the local newspaper from cover to cover every night.  I left nothing unread, front page, police reports, births and obits..which lead to the in memorium columns.

In this small town of 16,000, the obituaries were few, maybe a handful a day, but since the loyalty to this town and the multi generations that live and work here, the memorials go on, year after year, many with photographs.

After a few years, I realized I recognized many by the pictures published with the letters and poems.  Some, like Bernie Sue, were children when they died.  Her picture of a smiling fourth grader is there every year.  How about the couple, married 50+ years, who died two weeks apart or the family of four with two young children who were all killed instantly by a drunk driver?

I remember the circumstances of many of the more recent, I knew some of them.  Each year, in early November, his birthday and on Christmas Eve, the anniversary of his tragic death, I steel myself before turning to the memorial page because I know I'll see photos of my oldest son's friend, Donnie.

I find some comfort in the familiarity.  After twenty years, I join the families of those dearly departed in mourning.   I find myself greeting them silently and offering prayers that they are at rest, in peace and that they will be waiting to greet those who loved them and mourn them, in the hereafter.

I'm sure I'll recognize them as friends I never knew.  Wonder if they will know me?