A better world because....

Many people touch our lives every single day. Often it is in just some small way: a cashier, a teller, even people you do not meet face to face.

You see actors performing on the stage, the big screen, or even a small screen that brings them into your home.

Sometimes you hear actors names and it triggers a memory for you. Or you just fondly remember watching them perform. You may not even have watched them, but you can hear the name and think, "Oh, I remember them."

I never really followed George Carlin, who recently passed away, but he was so funny. Many people like him have touched our lives and improved them by entertaining us and bringing laughter into our lives.

It is just a tad morbid, but my husband stumbled upon a website www.deadoraliveinfo.com. It lists the deaths of many people, not just those in the entertainment industry.

I just went back to the first of the year and was able to come up with 14 names that I recognized. I am betting if you went to the site, you might recognize more.

Suzanne Pleshette whom I always watched on Newhart. Ivan Dixon, not a name you instantly recognize but…if you grew up in the 60's and 70's and watched "Hogan's Heroes" he touched your life as Kinchloe. Roy Scheider in Jaws-- who did not watch that? I sure think of it more as I now live in Florida and did see a shark one day when went to the beach. David Groh, another name you would not recognize but if you watched Mary Tyler Moore and Rhoda, he was Rhoda's husband. Richard Widmark, Cyd Charisse-- two that my husband remembers, although not to fondly as he said they always creeped him out. I think he said that about Charlton Heston, too, or at least the characters he played.

With the presidential election coming up it will be very different this year with out Tim Russert.
With George Carlin's passing, no matter what channel you tuned in-- sports networks, musical channels, entertainment networks-- they likely made some mention of his passing.

Sometimes when I hear that people who were in shows I watched growing up have passed away, I feel as though a part of my childhood slipped away as well.

It saddens me that we do not realize how many people touch our lives. You often do not realize how long it has been since they have passed away. For some reason, I recently found a website that listed graves in the cemetery that my paternal grandparents and other family members are buried in. I really remembered how old they were when they passed, or at least how old I was.

I am left with such a feeling that this blog entry is somehow incomplete, yet at this time I cannot continue as it has me feeling overwhelmingly sad. Thinking of my father, my sister, the in-laws that I never got the chance to meet.

People touch our lives in so many ways…..gone but never forgotten….and our world is all the better because of them.