Lately, I have this habit of looking at the obituaries in the Salt Lake Tribune.
Why not, I’m 77.
I randomly go through them, look at their photos and read their biographies.
Then I go back and look at their birth and death dates. I say to myself that “I’m in the middle of the pack, as many die younger than me as die older.”
Then I look at their photos again, and a nice, but unexplainable, mental lapse takes place. As long as I look at them, they are still alive in my mind.
I’ve had that same experience with my father in law. My wife has been working on his biography for a number of years, and as long as she has done that and has his photos out, I assume he’s still alive.
So my newfound philosophy is, as long as you can remember them and can see photos of them, they remain alive in your mind.
I’m not going to argue the point. It’s a nice feeling.