By George, I miss him!

While I don't always like watching the nightly news (too much negative stuff coming at me from that little box), I'd have to have been living under a rock to not hear word of the deaths of Tim Russert and George Carlin. And yes, I did catch that pathetic picture of icon Paul Newman outside his apartment door, looking like, well, death warmed over.

Yet it strikes me that I don't know these people, but I mourn their passing and their changes. Why, like thousands of others around the world, do I tear up when I see an interview or read a quote from them about their lives?

When a public figure dies that loss triggers a memory in us. No, not so much about that person, but instead, about what was happening in our lives at the time. For example, my ex and I attended a George Carlin concert about four years ago. The death notice about Carlin instantly took me back to the concert I enjoyed with my mate and then, bam!, to the slow and painful death of that relationship.

And Tim Russert's death reminded me of all the journalists and media folks I have had the pleasure to work with through the years. No, we weren't best friends, but we shared a profession that we felt pride in and had an unspoken bond about. His death had me thinking about all others in the profession who, on behalf of the average citizen, just try to produce the truth and understanding.

Then there's Paul Newman. I like his salad dressing and his movies. So did my mom. Seeing him battling cancer cut to the core of my memories of mom withering away to the influence of chemo and radiation. And seeing his now-gaunt frame reminds us how we all change and how those changes, and death, are inevitable.

And so we miss them and mourn our own losses. It's human. And moving through it is fairly simple. In fact, visit my web site at http://www.life-preservers.org/ to sign up for my free Ezine, In the Flow, and you'll get some tips on how to manage your 'celebrity mourning and memories.