The woman I had bought my house from, back in 2001, died about a week and a half ago.

She had been living in an assisted-living home in Denison (I thought she was in Dallas). I had had some contact with her son around the time of the sale (she was starting with Alzheimer's, she needed to move somewhere more structured, and they needed the money from the house sale). But I had lost track of him.

Then the other day, in the mail, I got a fairly official-looking letter from a life insurance company. Addressed to her son. I guess she forgot to change the address. I was concerned, because it looked Important. (I had gotten other mail that was obviously advertising, and so didn't feel too bad about tossing it.

But I figured I HAD to get this to her son somehow...it could have been the information he needed to claim life insurance, or something.

Finally, it occurred to me that I could call the funeral home - they would have his contact information, and even if they didn't want to give it to me, I could give them my contact information and they could pass it on to him. Well, even better: the man I spoke with said he knew the son, knew he was waiting for this piece of mail, and he came out to my office building to pick it up. (This is a long-term business in town, so I trust them to forward it on to him). I'm relieved that I was able to figure out a way to get the information to him, but you know? In the days of the Internet, there should be some way to make a "permanent forwarding address" or something where mail could go....forwarding orders last for a year at most.