About being dead, maybe…

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

— Mark Twain

There is a scene in the movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” in which England has been devastated by the bubonic plague and carts are being rolled down streets to pick up bodies claimed by the disease. As the person pulling the body-laden cart calls out “bring out your dead,” one pitiful soul ready to be dumped on the pile of corpses announces that “I’m not dead… I’m getting better.” Nevertheless, a person assisting with the cart ignores his multiple petitions for mercy and promptly whacks him on the head with a club to silence him. (Yes, I know it’s a really sophomoric movie, but it’s pretty darned funny, even after watching it many times. A clip of the scene is attached below.)

I mention this because a very good friend of ours recently announced to us on a live Zoom meeting that she was dead. You might say that announcement was kind of a stunner. She looked pretty alive and animated to us and others watching on our home computers. Dumbfounded, we waited for an explanation.

It turns out she had been doing online research on the genealogy of her family when she came across a family tree in which she was listed as having died in 2011. For being in the grave for nine years, she looked pretty good to us. We’re fairly certain she’s not a zombie either.

We still haven’t seen her in person, thanks to COVID-19 precautions. However, I’m fairly certain she’s doing just fine, which we all are exceedingly grateful to know.

I guess the moral of this experience is not to believe everything you see on the Internet. Well, except of course my blogs.

Stay safe and also stay alive, my friends.