I discovered for this first time this morning that my last remaining great aunt had died in October. The news hit me pretty hard.
You might ask whether it was a good idea to be looking for obituaries on the internet on Christmas Day. The answer is yes, because after you become an adult, the holiday is as much about the people who aren’t here, and are missed, as it is about the ones who are physically present.
Burke famously said that society was a contract between the dead, the living, and those who are yet to be born. At this time of year, it becomes painfully obvious he was right. You can’t run from it, so you might as well embrace it.