…. on now long Jim will remain on so many mailing lists?

Because …. really?!  It’s been 4 years.  Well, Three years and 11 months, but who’s counting?  Besides me?

I don’t think there’s a day that goes by without getting something in the mail that’s addressed to him.  And mostly, it’s just junk mail.
And I get that.
I really do.
Because junk mail is just stupid, in and of itself.
So I don’t expect anything different from that crap.

But this year …. just a couple of weeks ago …. I received something in the mail that shocked me.  Really.
It took my breath away.

It was from Jim’s attorney’s office.  Not our personal attorney, but from a rather large firm in Houston which handled a case for him …. for us (after a horrific accident in 2001 when a gun blew up in his face while he was target shooting).  They worked with Jim, with us, for quite a few years before we settled the case … not too long before he died, ironically.
A large, well-known firm.  A firm that’s done a lot of work for other partners in Jim’s firm.  A law firm that does a lot of “big” work.  A law firm that should know better.
A law firm that knows he’s dead.
And has known that he’s been dead for almost 4 years.

And yet …. they sent him an invitation to their annual Christmas/Holiday party. 
Yes.
They.
Did.

Not a small get-together.
But a large, well-known annual affair.
Really?
Yep.  Really.

I felt like I had been kicked in the gut.
I wanted to march into the house, pick up the phone, dial their number and ask the first person who answered, “Are you freakin’ kidding me??!!”
Four years.
Plenty of time to take the man’s name off of the mailing list, don’t you think?
Four years.
Do they think he’s going to become more alive as each year passes?
Is there something they know that I don’t?
Is he hanging out with Elvis somewhere, eating peanut butter and banana sandwiches?
Somehow, I don’t think so.

Funny.  I still have the jury summons that he received 2 years after he died.
I was hoping they’d put out a warrant for his arrest after he failed to show for that.
Alas, they did not.

The failure of the government to keep up with the status of its citizens …. alive and/or dead?
I get that.
It happens.
We all know the government and what it’s capable …. and incapable …. of doing.

But actual men and women whom I’ve met?  With whom I’ve spent hours working?  Not to mention the days upon days that Jim worked with them.
People who have real faces and real names …. which I know?

It’s funny …. just when I think I’ve got this “widow thing” down …. when I think I’ve seen it all and there’s no more to be seen ….. there suddenly is.
There should be a statute of limitations.
On how long dead people can receive mail.
And on how long some people can be stupid.