Generally, when we conduct an online search for a person – whether we are researching someone of world renown, a specialist in our industry, or a friend we haven’t spoken to in a long time and whose numbers don’t work anymore – we are used to seeing LinkedIn, Wikipedia or Facebook page references to them as our first results. Perhaps articles they have written, or their own site that we didn’t know they’d published.

It’s also my job to place clients’ sites at the top of search engine rankings.

Today I found an old friend’s obituary there.

I then proceeded to spend the next 2 hours trying to prove that little excerpt wrong until I found a news item relating to her passing, and I was forced to accept the painful reality. She was 32.

‘Gutted’ and ‘shocked’ would be a good start to describe my initial spine-chilled reactions.

This is not going to be a long-winded discussion on how short life is, and what we make of it. It’s simply a reflection on how sometimes we find things we would never expect (or like) on what we have come to take for granted as a primary source of instant information gratification, and the horrifying news it can provide on such a personal level.

Panta rei,  amiga mia. Descansa en paz.

Originally posted on www.karinpinter.com