I typically read the obits in Springfield, IL where my young adult years were reared. Gone is another guy whom was a very good friend during the high school years. I've never been able to write for sh*t so took typing class where we met. Cancer, but I don't know anything more as haven't seen him since 1977 and not remained in touch. I think this is about the eighth person I've outlived from my age bracket yet the memories are still fresh. Strange to reflect upon.
I feel for you, I'm probably about 10 years older and have lost touch with most who I went to school with in the 1960's so I imagine more than a few have passed. Just a year or so back I learn that a girl I dated for a few years had passed. I only learned of that when I was trying to touch base with her to see how she was doing. Not in a romantic sense just to say Hi! Also in the last year or so an uncle who I share first and last names with and was only five years older than me passed away suddenly. Getting older can be a bitch at times like this!
I’m in a similar situation, I was in contact with one of the guys I worked with After 4 yrs of not seeing many people. The list we have lost to cancer and heart attack just this year was very surprising. Most of us are still quite young, 60 to 65.
When you were 18 or 20, 65 looked pretty old, and was the age you expected people to die at! But when you get to 65, you tend to think that "old people" are those aged 85 to 95! You know you're getting old when school buddies, work associates and friends suddenly drop off the perch. I can recall my parents saying when they were in their late 70's that nearly all their friends had died. Whenever SWMBO gets her hand read by some old Chinese fortune-teller lady, they all say the same thing - "You live to one hundred, plus, plus, plus!!" We have an old guy here, he just turned 108! - and he's still getting along just fine. He commented that it's not what you DID, that makes you live a long time - it's what you DIDN'T do, that gives you a long life! He never smoked or drank alcohol, and he obviously took few risks, too. I never cease to be amazed by people who have a stellar track record of achievements, making billions in a short time, setting all kinds of records, doing world-beating things - but they're dead in their 50's!! I reckon they're like 110V light bulbs running on 220V, they glow brilliantly, but are burnt out in a short period of time!
Life is like when you flip the pages of a book, you flip thru the front of the book slowly and then the rest of the book the pages begin to fall faster and faster till the back cover slams it shut.
A guy I worked with back in 1990 that was a super nice guy didn't die but I happened across an article about him in the local paper. Some woman he casually knew was high on something and came to his apartment asking for money. He was making dinner and wouldn't give her any so she hit him in the head with a pot and poured the boiling water, he had on the stove, on him. He had severe burns. He went to a neighbors for help. The police found the woman hiding in the building. She got 3 years and 8 month's and apparently had remorse for doing this to her friend. He lost his apartment and his job and is traumatized and has nightmares of the event. I hadn't talked to him in years so didn't have his number. He visited me in the hospital and brought me some magazines back in 1991 when they thought I had encephalitis. I read that article and was horrified! One of the nicest guys I ever worked with. It's really sad thinking about it now. I sure hope he's doing much better today.
I am 57 when i was in my late teens i would look around and think most of the people around me will be gone some day. That has happened and is steal happening. Its not easy to watch and its not easy to know this is how everyone's story turns out. A good friends Dad dosent have long to go i need to go see him.
It's hard reading people who you knew that were friends or their relatives have passed. My dad passed unexpectedly in his sleep. I was a week away from moving back to his acreage. I miss him everyday.
I’m experiencing a similar trend in my small circle of friends, co-workers and family. Everyone is dropping dead. Excess deaths are trending, now. The mortuary biz is booming more than ever. Casket sales and insurance companies are reporting above average claims. The oncology business is booming. ICD-10 codes are spiking up with cancer and cardiovascular reporting. The medical diagnostic business is seeing a boom in echocardiography, mammography. Just sayin’ probably has nothing to do with recent events.
I'm 8 going on 9 years out and atleast 2 are already gone. Like said before 18 or 20 someone 65 looks old I've been mistaken for 38 before
I've given up wishing friends that I haven't seen for a while happy birthday on the internet. Some have died just prior or about to, feels like I'm walking through a minefield.
I get to thinking about someone i know but havent seen in a long time ?
I went yesterday afternoon to work on a good friends bobcat. We have been friends for 48 years went to school together and worked at the same shop for several years. We rebuilt several vehicles together . He has been on dialysis for several years . His dad is the one i need to go see he has several things wrong. I had talked to another classmate a while back he told me they thought he had some bad stuff going on but hadnt got through with the tests . The bobcat friend told me he had talk to him and he is a mess cancer and liver cirrhosis. We were in the same class the school was very small most classes had around a dozen students .
We're the same age. My dad, who'll be 83 next month tells me all the time that "The weeks fly by like days. It's Monday morning,you blink your eyes and it's Friday evening". It seems to be the truth- Christmas seems like 2 weeks ago and now it's almost March. I see my dad slowing down and not as active as he was, the inevitable health issues, and all the other things and mortality hits you right in the face. We're at that point in life that we've seen more sunrises than we'll see sunsets Life is like a roll of toilet paper- the closer to the end the faster it goes.
Try to make the best of the time you have. Eliminate as much BS as you can and be around positive people rather than people that are always negative and always complaining about something, anything. Attitude goes a long way too.
My friend's dad passed the funeral is on Tuesday. My high school class was small 12 in my grade . One of the guys has cancer big time . He runs the grader for the township around our home town about 10 miles from where I live. I saw him 2 days ago fueling up the grader. To see him and talk to him you wouldnt know anything is going on. He has a major surgery coming up what a deal. Some good advice . I want to do a major overhaul of my life . I am spending to much time doing stuff i dont like.
Doug, only you can change that. Big changes start with small steps in the direction you want to go.
I went to see my grandma recently. She's approaching her mid-90s. Its heartbreaking to walk into a care home, all these people that can no longer look after themselves and require full time care. Some have lived there for years. I can't pretend that it isn't a depressing fate. I really hope I can avoid a place like that when I'm older. I watched my grandfather on the other side of my family deteriorate in a home for a couple years before he moved on. To see him drugged up and locked up in a home really hurt. He loved to tinker around in his shop during his last couple years of independence, he was not built to sit still in a home and simply just exist.
Its hard to understand why some end up in a home and some dont. I wonder if the once in the home went through a lot of stress during there life and it scrambled there brains. I have had a couple relatives end up in a home because they couldnt take care of themselves. I had a aunt that lived at home she was a good person . When grandmother passed in her 90s the aunt lived with by herself and some with us . She liked people and want to go to a home. She had a room mate she knew from church that she liked. Mom and her other sister would go get her once a week and take her some where. She spent alot of days at mom and Dads store . I dont think most of them know where they are.
A lot depends on the actual home they're in. My mom was in a really nice care home in Victoria BC. They had lots of activities people could sign up for and they'd go on field trips. I was really happy to see my mom listed as one of the people who wanted school kids to come and see her when they came on field trips. I think she liked the company.
Seems like that. Growing up felt like forever. Now "I swear I just replaced this a year or two ago" and look into it. Yeah... 7 years ago.
I went to the funeral yesterday . It was at the church my Dad built i helped on it alot . Being in that building and seeing several people i hadnt seen in years brought back a lot of memories . It was a good day for it great weather.
if you want to talk about aging....after i sold my business off, i got bored after a year...and went and ran a 375 cat in an aggregate plant for 4 years before i finally said..."enough"... young guy at plant was giving me..."the ole guy"...a little sheet. i've known superintendent of plant for years...tells the young guy...."you may wanna hush up...he's worn out more bucket teeth than you have hours of seat time"..