I thought that I would try to reconnect with a doctor friend I had known for 15 years. I hadn't spoken to him since the pandemic. We'd had a number of meetings and he helped me on a number of both personal and business issues. In 2009 at the nadir of the recession, he suggested I begin an analytical service, and I did work on that for a while. I managed to get a job as an analyst that worked out instead.
I searched for him and got his LinkedIn profile after a phone call came back as being disconnected. I wrote him another note on LinkedIn. However, when I had done the search, the word "obituary" popped up. I went back to Google and put obituary back in and, sure enough, there it was. Prostate cancer got to him ahead of me. Still, there was his shining smiling face. He was a year younger than me, so I feel like lightening has struck again, and again, too close for comfort. It's sad to see parts of one's life drop away, only to be remembered from here on. ".... like tears in the rain."
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.The longer we live, the more people we lose. 
For no reason FB hadn't been showing a friend's posts for about a year. 
I didn't realise. We'd liked and replied on each other's comments, in common groups and mutual friend's posts. So, no absence, to realise.
Yesterday he texted. Asked me to come and visit him (in a nearby town). He is dying, in 10 day's time. He had publicly posted about his cancer diagnosis, in November. He'd been weeks in a larger hospital (nearer my place), getting treatment. I was oblivious. He got the ambulance back to his town, yesterday, to die in his local small hospital.
He'd wondered why I hadn't acknowledged his illness, or visited him in hospital (the one near me, but not near his other friends).
I'm so grateful he contacted me directly. Wish he'ddone so much sooner. (Acknowledging, he wouldn't want to tell a hundred friends individually ... that's why he posted on FB.)
Hoping to visit him on Tuesday, to say goodbye.
It's going to be a challenge. 
I'm used to finding out afterwards ... like Racocn8.
Google search, or in a casual conversation "I thought you knew" a month later, or TV news item, or on FB.
One of my loved ones ... we'd messaged 2hrs earlier, just before he went on stage to set up, "have a great gig!". Then I saw a FB post from a stranger, saying RiP! 
He'd died on stage during the first set.
Too many, too soon, too often.I
LizZyG
Level 5
Jan 12, 2025
1
Knowing one has less and less time left, it's hard to guess or choose what is the best way to live. We get no manuals and older generations have their own unique circumstances. I would prefer to express only love, but have trouble overcoming the memory of those that have disrespected me. I miss a lot of people and the number does keep going up.
It's an inevitable part of life...people we care about die. I'm sorry. The good news is--you're still here and you can remember him fondly.
Awhile ago, I woke up thinking about someone I'd always enjoyed working with. On a whim, I did a search...only to read that his funeral was that very same day. (Creepy?)
pamagain
Level 8
Mar 29, 2024
2
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