Reading the Obits

I like to read obituaries.

This is not a morbid preoccupation. I’m not a ghoul, looking for gory details of death.

Nor is this related to getting older and becoming more aware of mortality. I became very aware of mortality over the last several years as I looked after my father and visited him in his nursing home, but my obituary reading started long before that.

I read obituaries because I want to know about people’s lives.

I should probably make it clear that I am picky about the obituaries I r...