Obituaries

Do ya' ever read obituaries in your local newspaper or off the computer? I do. I scan sites and papers on a daily basis. I read the Quad-Cities Times. It's the paper for Davenport, Iowa, home to my family from 1974-1989. I probably recognize the demise of someone I know every other week. I also look at the Des Moines Register. I wonder what prompts a family member to put a specific picture of a person in the paper unless the dead person decided on one ahead of time. The living can do whatever they want without retribution don't you know. I recall when Mr. Roeder from out hometown passed away. He had asked his wife to put some dirt from Oklahoma in the casket. He was born there. Anyway, she didn't. I can understand that. What was she going to do, drive down to Muskogee? Don't think so.
I'm sure Lizzie knows this but I'll have to remind her of what picture of moi not to put in the newspaper when I check out. I don't want a photo of me with an Iowa Hawkeye sweatshirt and cap. I also don't want a pic showing me with a fish on a stringer. Some guys are shown in their Felco Feed caps, jauntily tilted to the right(or left). NASCAR photos are popular with guys decked out in their Earnhardt outfits. Don't people, at least once in their lives, wear a coat and tie? I guess there's a distinct possibility a person couldn't afford dress up clothes. If a funeral director was smart he'd have a cardboard cutout with suit and tie sans head. Then he could prop the guy up so he looked sort of fancy. For me, that's a good way to be remembered. My mother-in-law was a classy lady. She passed on eight years ago at the age of 92. On a summer day a year prior to her death she and Lizzie went shopping for her burial dress. Lizzie picked out a pink dress with wool fabric. Eileen was quite concerned that if she died in the summer the wool might be uncomfortable. That, my friends, is planning ahead.
Last week I saw a picture of a young man wearing a sweatshirt, cap, and six pounds of bling around his neck. Sad to say the first thing that crossed my mind was gang killing. I'm sure he had a better picture of himself taken when he was down at the mall.
There isn't a message to this post. I just happened to be thinking about it while scanning obits.