Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Lines From Our Obituaries

Among his hobbies were going out to eat and watching NASCAR races
She always coordinated her pre-planned outfits with utmost care

He had an impressive collection of pornographic websites saved on computer
She cooked them delicious meals using canned and pre-packaged ingredients

He enjoyed driving his loud pickup truck with its expensive custom mufflers
She drove safely while talking on her cellphone and sipping expensive lattes

He spoke with Jesus regularly after the deep shock of his mid-life coronary
She was serious about watching every single episode of all her favorite TV shows

His own opinions were often voiced by others on television, the internet and radio
Vacation planning was an important aspect of her life satisfaction

They enjoyed discussing sports and movies with him after boring meetings
All her trash was always tied up neatly inside of shiny plastic bags

He owned several weapons which he enjoyed firing in his spare time
Her granddaughter was a single mother before her grandma was 45

He only drank to excess on the weekends and missed very little work
She put 15000 miles a year on an SUV that never left their town

He was a valued patron of the gaming industry and nearly a poker expert
She was on a gossiping first name basis with the stars in all her magazines

His yard was always cut short and quite green and his garage was very clean
She was so attractive that she remained a hooker until well after turning 40

His knowledge of beer commercials was impressively encyclopedic
She was ever feisty despite her emphysema, diabetes and obesity

He pursued a career in drug addiction and did graduate work in prison
She worked full-time and raised children with absolutely equal attention to both

He drove heavy equipment and found it unnecessary to ever read
She was a professional real estate agent who made friends very quickly

He had no patience with those worn-out, liberal cowards who live in France
She supported our troops and hoped they all came back safe and sound

He rolled his credit card debt into his home mortgage on three occasions
She decorated every year for each season and every holiday

He had a healthy mistrust of fuzzy thinkers such as scientists
She always kept her hair dyed right down to the roots

He took his wife to Las Vegas for that very special 25th anniversary
She never drove around the town with her car windows down

In his mind, he carried his excess weight like so much powerful muscle
She was proud of her gifted children and kept them strictly to their meds

He brought them the latest home entertainment he had bought on shaky credit
She got a part-time MBA and was quickly advanced to middle management

He financed a loud Harley and dressed up expensively for short rides on Saturdays
She tried to banish her cellulite with the various creams she saw on TV

He was never observed to simply be out walking - Anywhere, anytime
She eased the suffering of menopause with alcohol, pills and bitchiness

He began saving for retirement around age 55, but the economy then went south
Her friends all said she was a wonderful home entertainer

Despised by subordinates, dismissed by superiors, he was quite irrelevant at home
She tried hard to visit her Mom at the nursing home at least once a month

He loved the outdoors and drank beer there as often as he could
She learned to cook her own Meth in the kitchen of their apartment

As a high-powered sales executive he put his people skills to good use
Sometimes she power-walked for up to 20 minutes after lunch

When he went on vacation, people often thought that he must be quite well off
She fed the birds and squirrels as she poisoned the ants and wasps

He cut to the chase, stayed on message and met the bottom line at the end of the day
She believed in women’s rights and liked it when men held the door for her

He worked with great loyalty and they downsized him without a second thought
She delighted in tormenting her Ex for years after he unceremoniously kicked her to the curb

He honestly did not know the tired man staring at him from the mirror
She had a white, fuzzy, little dog that she talked to like a baby

He often had a strong urge to beat someone to death with his soft bare hands
She spent time in tanning booths because she felt that she was worth it

His barbecue grill cost $1500 and he had a little fridge out there as well
Her jewelry always drew stares of admiration from those in the know

He belonged to that proud fraternity of injured former would-be athletes
She quickly lost 15 lbs and bought stylish new clothes after her divorce

His friends down at the tavern always cashed his check for him on Fridays
She killed germs ruthlessly with the newest anti-bacterial cleanser available

His son once stole his credit card number and bought videogames on the internet
She tried volunteer work but those people did not appreciate her efforts

He tossed his burning cigarette butts aside wherever he might finish them
She spent hundreds a month on high-fat, low-fiber, packaged factory family foods

He sneered at the fool recyclers, tree huggers and energy conservationists
She found a secure job and caged the system for many unproductive years

His goal was to always keep the bed of his pickup truck very clean and empty
She enjoyed the little treat of having her nails done once a week

He always had the time to leer as the young secretaries passed on by
She braided her grey hair, wore Indian turquoise and smoked menthol cigarettes

He was nearly overcome by road rage on several different occasions
She noted happily that she did not grow old as did all her contemporaries

He believed the government should step aside and let him run his business
She devoured countless mystery and romance novels in her bathtub        

Though his eyesight and wind failed him, he never lost his badboy attitude
She survived her husband and got by alone for nearly twenty years

His self-esteem was low as he was but a weak and reviled high school teacher
She trained as a nurse to help others but burned out in a hurry

His great sensitivity denied him success in the Darwinian office arena
She dispensed spontaneously-generated  opinions freely on all manner of subjects

Violence, porn, beer, food and loud noises were the real joys of his life
She adopted each passing new-age fad as a singularly life-changing event

His behavior became more saint-like in proportion to the malignancy of his prostate
She loved baby animals and prepared delicious veal cutlets for her children

He looked forward to retirement and died 15 months thereafter
She clung grimly on to life and, in the end, it cost a cool half a million

He said that we should just level their useless countries with our nuclear weapons
She knew nothing and no one for the last three years of her life

He was taken in mid-flight on a journey he had never planned or reviewed
Her implants still looked good as ever even as they were embalming her

He desperately sought their unearned forgiveness for his abuse, anger and absence
She left behind thousands of cherished knick-knacks that they quickly threw away

His job was sent overseas, they canceled his retirement plan and so he defaulted on his debts
She spoke often of her money problems but saved until the day she died

He mixed business with pleasure until the concoction blew up in his face
She showed the children pictures from their shared past that they could not recall

All his long experience and hard-earned wisdom were totally ignored as pathetically irrelevant
Her old and faded pictures might have been of a woman of great beauty and grace

He built a huge second home as a place where he would try and bring the family together
Sometimes she found herself in tears for no apparent reason

He loved to get behind the wheel where he took control in heavy traffic
She had no desire to be rich or famous and in that she succeeded fully

His former colleagues still mention him every now and then at work
She filled them up with unavoidable guilt during each of their numerous visits

He certainly was not one to try to do more using less
She proudly displayed a knife wound sustained in a bar fight

His service in Vietnam provided a basis for guilt-free and lifelong dependency issues
She ignored livestock manufacturing conditions and shopped family meat on price alone

He shared a pro sports championship along with other loyal fans one year
She said she felt safer riding high in an SUV on the way to the grocery store

He adhered to a strict regimen of alcohol, tobacco, a poor diet and never exercised
She spent thousands on cosmetic surgery and wound up looking like a zombie

He could compare vehicle horsepower over many model years from memory
Her ankles gradually swelled as her obesity worsened her circulation

He often observed wryly to his fellows that when you are dead that you are dead
She knew in her heart of hearts that she was not descended from some ape

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