Pickles by Brian Crane for June 27, 2024

I look for my own name. If it isn’t there, I get up.

I hate to see when young people die!

It’s a game that gets easier the longer you do it… and it’s NOT just that practice makes perfect.

I’m fairly young, at least as GoComics readers go, but I’ve already outlived quite a few people.

Average lifespan is NOT a guarantee.

Paper? What paper? We don’t have one here. It’s online now.

Morbid.

You’re talking about outliving old people, Earl? You should’ve responded, “Bingo!”

Today I took a big risk. I bought green bananas.

sure, Earl⠄⠄⠄ it’s all fun and games, till the Reaper comes for you

⁽ᴬᵘᵍᵘˢᵗ ¹⁸ ²⁰⁰⁸⁾

Old joke edited for length: A man in Moscow buys newspaper at newsstand, glances at front page, throws it away. Next day, he does the same. After a week the news seller asks him why he’s doing this.

Man: “I’m looking for an obituary.”News seller:“But the obituaries aren’t even on the front page!”Man: “Oh, the one I’m looking for will be.”

I do that, I have outlived many of my friends, sad!

I’ve almost quit searching for my old friends now because they’ve all died.

a lot of my former customers and coworkers were older than I am and I look to see if they are in the obits

Obituaries are a dead business. why pay per line for something that will inform people tomorrow when a cell phone you can tell everyone in minutes with 3 words… Uncle Bills dead!

I remember when my first husband died. It didn’t seem real. But then I went to the supermarket and picked up the newspaper. Seeing his name in the obituaries …in print, with my kids and my name listed as “survived by”, suddenly made it real and I burst into tears right there in the checkout line. I got a lot of weird looks, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t explain. Suddenly it was a reality. That was 28 years ago (he died young). While I am now happily remarried, that was such a horrible feeling. I still feel that way if I see a friend’s name in an obit.

I like to see people who are much older than me. Gives me hope that I’ll go on a good while longer.

Earl, you’re not the only one who does that, lol!

Dad used to read them to make sure he wasn’t in there. lol.

I’m aiming to live longer than my dad did. Three more years to go!

My grandmother told me that was a list of people who wouldn’t be riding the streetcars anymore. And yes, it was a long time ago.

I’m 66, and I admit this !!!lol

Don’t worry, Earl. Your time will come when you’ll be knock, knock, knockin’ on Heaven’s door.

“I get up each morning and dust off my witsOpen the paper and read the obitsIf I’m not there, I know I’m not deadSo I eat a good breakfast and go back to bed” Pete Seeger

For a little perspective, walk through any cemetery. Note the ages of the dead. Death comes for all and not at any certain age, either. None is rich enough to avoid it. None is powerful enough to miss it. You can’t even hide from it.

(Delays are nice though.)

Friends remember as you pass by,

As you are now so once was I,

As I am now, so you will be,

Prepare for death to follow me.

……………………………………………………………………………………..

To follow you, I’m not content,

I don’t know which way you went.

I hope these two never die.

Sorry for repeating an anecdote, but I heard of a 100 yo woman who said she imagined all her deceased friends ( presumably in Heaven) probably think she went to Hell.

Really no contest when you’re a comic character.

I learned yesterday one of my former classmates died a couple years ago. I last saw them at a High School reunion 5 years ago. Pretty crazy seeing people my age die before me and I’m not old enough yet for Medicare

Pop’s that’s what Google’s for.

I have gotten to that age too. My class page on Facebook keeps me informed.

Online obits are very useful, though I know they won’t last forever. I’ve been able to confirm the passing of old colleagues and a few distant relatives after hearing rumors through the grape vine.

What is upsetting is when a colleague’s relative tells us he has passed, and I search for an obit and find nothing. These are people who were well-known in their communities, wrote books, received awards, and nobody took the time to write an obit for them. Yeah, I know, some papers charge a lot, but many professional journals run obits for free. I’ve written a few for old friends. When families come to help clear out the offices, they rarely take more than a few framed photos with them, not the awards or the books that their relative wrote…sic transit gloria mundi indeed.

Wouldn’t that be everyone in the obituaries?

been there done that! Like it when I see my former bulys give up the ghost.

Doesn’t make you suspicious that they’re all being bumped off in alphabetical order?