Last weekend, a former student died in a car accident. He was 15. When I went to tell a co-worker who I thought had known him about it, he told me about a friend of his who had just the night before accidentally shot another friend of his, killing him, while cleaning a gun.
On Thursday, a former co-worker from my other job, a man who I’ve known for twenty years, passed away after a long illness. He leaves behind a college-age daughter and a high school-aged son.
On Friday, my boss’ father died.
And last night, the wife of a co-worker from my previous school was struck by a car as she was crossing the street after a family party. She passed away at the hospital. They had two young daughters; I don’t know if the girls were present when she was hit by the car.
That’s enough for now, universe.
Everybody, go hug your families. Right now.
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Welcome to infinitefreetime dot com 
Death is never easy to cope with, especially when it comes so quickly. I will take your advise and hug my family tonight and I wish you all the best in this difficult time. ❤
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Jeez! You must be reeling now. 😦
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Right? And it’s not like anything has happened to me— in some ways I even feel like writing this post in the first place is trying to make the tragedies of a bunch of other families about me. There are bigger problems than “I have to go to two funerals this week”– like, say, being one of the people organizing them. But still, Jesus, enough already.
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Is there an estimation how many people die every day? You have to wonder statistically how likely it is that someone you know or someone someone you know knows dies almost all the time. Weird to think about. I wish there was a way to track it just for my own reference….how many people I’ve interacted with in my lifetime that are now dead. Nevermind.
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Using the CDC’s numbers for 2010 for the US, roughly 6,850 people per day, or .00002% of the 316 million US citizens. So five people in a week from my social circle, especially five unrelated people in five unrelated events, probably means I should have bought lottery tickets.
Did you know I teach math? 🙂
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…and as a math teacher I should remember to move my decimal point when I convert to percentages. Make that .002%. Still negligible odds.
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Nice Save.
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The holidays compound the pain.
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I hope that you are able to find the peace and comfort you need each day!
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We all know that dealing with the deaths of loved ones – whether natural deaths or not – is part of life. But knowing that doesn’t make it any easier. Some of the deaths you mentioned were tragic accidents, which makes them doubly hard to bear. To lose someone who should have had years ahead of them is more than tragic. And yes, it does make you want to hug your own family right now.
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