Make the most of the time you have

I was reading the Garden County newspaper which came from Oshkosh, Nebraska, a week or so ago. It's an interesting, small-town newspaper. Kind of a glimpse into small-town U.S.A. as it was back a bunch of years ago and still is to a degree. There is an article by a friend of mine, so I read it along with the obituaries. His articles range from gripes about whatever to articles on Christmas or Easter. But it was the obituaries that caught my attention. After reading the Garden County News, I read the Southeast Missourian.

Most of the time the obituaries are pretty much the same. The name, when they were born and died, kinfolk, who survives them and who preceded them in death, when the service is, who's doing the service and where they will be buried if they are going to be buried. Sometimes personal stuff is added, but most of the time it's cut and dried, Well, anyway, as I was reading along it got me to thinking.

A whole life of anywhere from 20 or 30 years (or less) up to 100 years or more summarized in maybe 100 to 200 words or less or a couple paragraphs. That's it. Sometimes they may have a long obituary, when the person who's died is important or has accomplished what appears to be a lot. But as a general rule, their life is written down on paper in a very few words. It's kind of sad.

There are times when I will read an obituary even if I don't know them, just to show my respect or to acknowledge their lives. I was recently reading one of a young person who died and one of those listed in the surviving family was his dog. That was neat. Sometimes it mentions how they loved and were proud of their grandkids or great-grandkids. That's cool. There are very few mentions of how the couple had been married for 70 or 80 years. Most marriages don't last that long. Some, but not many. There are several who make it to the 50-years-married mark. In the last few years the obituaries have very few listed who are World War II survivors. Most of this generation are gone. Not even very many who served in the Korean conflict.

Most of the obituaries I read are from rural newspapers, but there aren't all that many mentions of where the deceased spent their life on a ranch or farm. There are a few, but not that many. It kind of points to the fact that the old family farm or ranch is dying. There are way too many hobby farms and ranches and big corporations. There are not many obituaries where the old couple had five or six or even 10 kids who then had kids, and they had kids. One recent death was of an old gentleman who died at age 94, and he had 10 kids and 36 grandchildren and 42 great-grandchildren. Most today have one or two kids with just a few grands. Many hands back in the first part of the 1900s were needed to work the ground. When the need for family workers died out, the family shrunk. Part of this was probably because of the economy.

Normally a church is mentioned in one way or another, like they were a member of St. John's Assembly Church as an example. Sometimes the church isn't mentioned, but the faith is like, "he was of the Methodist faith" or "she was of the Baptist faith." Kind of neat when the obituary mentions something like "they faithfully attended" a particular church.

So I wonder what the future holds about each of us when it's finally written down on the record in an obituary. It might not be in some newspaper because paper newspapers are in the process of dying. Most likely the obituaries will be found in some computer file or online.

The best part is our personal obituary hasn't been written yet! It will be some day, but not yet! Make the most of the time you have left.