It may be unusual that the first section of the paper that I read, is the Sports section. Not to know how the Leafs did but rather to read the births and deaths.

I started reading the births when I had my own children, some 20 years ago and I continue today, but instead, there are more names that I recognize in the other column now, which are the obits.
I have noticed some changes over the last while. There are more and more pictures of the deceased now being printed and typically of them as a much younger person. People are living longer, it is not uncommon to see those who have lived into their late eighties, nineties and some into their 100’s. Did you notice that around the holidays there seem to be more deaths than at other times of the year?

I am also saddened by those who have no one to grieve them and who have outlived their family and friends. Perhaps living into the very later years is a mixed blessing or it may not be a blessing at all. Would you like to know if you will live to be a very old age?
[Scientific research that using a specific set of genetic markers, scientists predicted with 77-percent accuracy whether someone would live to a very old age:The study was funded by grants from the National Institute of Aging (NIA) and the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).]
Who was it who said “live each day as if it were your last?” Let’s hope we have time to practice!
-Audrey Miller