A Year of Blogging: October 20, 2011

October 20 is 'Monster Mash Day'. It seemed a little odd to celebrate this today, I would have thought it would be closer to Halloween. Turns out, on October 20, 1962, the song 'Monster Mash' reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 list. I don't know how to do the Monster Mash. I really have no rhythm, which is why you won't find me on any dance floor. The most dancing I do is kind of wiggling and be-bopping to music in my car or around the house. And now, that song is stuck in my head! Yesterday I wrote about my Grandma Wager's birthday. Grandma passed away three years ago today. She had been in a nursing home for a few years, and had really gone downhill. She kept waiting for Grandpa to come for her, and he finally did the day after her 91st birthday. I sent her a card for her birthday that year, but mom's sister, Aunt Arlene had said there was no point in calling because Gram wouldn't know who was on the phone, and wouldn't be able to talk. We knew the end was close. Oddly enough, Grandma and her siblings all died near their birthdays. Grandma died the day after her 91st birthday. Her brother Ernest was born on September 10, 1919 and died September 29, 1980. Her sister, Vivian, was born November 16, 1927 and died on November 13, 1974. Her funeral was actually held on her 47th birthday. This family coincidence is a bit eerie. Until I realized that it's not that uncommon. As I've worked on the family genealogy, I have found many other ancestors who died close to their birth date. After Grandma passed, I started paying a little more attention to obituaries of strangers (yes, I read stranger's obituaries. Obituaries fascinate me). It seems to be almost common that people pass on or near their birthday. It's almost like the perfect way to book-end a life. Interestingly enough, the BBC banned the song "Monster Mash" from airplay in 1962 because it was 'too morbid'. I wonder what the BBC would think of this post?