Well, I think my husband has reached that “men of a certain age”, or at least his parents want him to reach it. The other day, he received a piece of mail from his Dad. It was a hand written note accompanied by an obituary clipped from the newspaper. The newspaper clipping was interesting enough to see, almost like a relic in a museum. And, a hand-written note sent through the mail. How charming. We explored the fossils together. We deciphered his Dad’s hand-written note first. My husband’s first grade teacher had passed away. She was 89. My husband was surprised at her age, as she seemed older when he was in the first grade. He remembered Miss Burk. He must not be “that” certain age, as he does remember her. She was a great teacher.
We felt compelled to read the other obituary next to Miss Burk’s, and the half obituary on the back, the rest clipped off without even realizing it. It felt almost disrespectful to not give them each a moment. We talked about Miss Burk, and the two other women. Each woman had worked decades and decades at the same job in each of their companies.  One of the women had worked for the same company for 65 years (she passed away at age 99). This is another historical context. These days, I see individuals moving from job to job more often. I don’t think you see this pattern of longevity as much.
So, my husband has broken through the threshold. Receiving obituaries clipped from the newspaper is something he can now expect. I am hoping for the longevity with the company, as well!!