Reclined at a ridiculous angle, waiting for the numbing gel to set in for a cavity fill, I stared at the ceiling and saw a commercial for a local funeral home that advertised using the faces and birth - death dates of a few recently departed. It made me feel weird. What an impulse we have. The remaining. The desperate instinct to send into the world some signal when the absence is felt. He lived! She lived! We get the park benches and the plaques and the slabs of concrete and apparently the commercial spots. Such a raw need, to feel that they will go on. Some foreshadowing plea that somehow, might we all. Meanwhile, moths seem to be eating our winter wear and I'm afraid to check my collection of old journals and writing that are also stored under the bed. What if there are holes in it all? It occurred to me the other day that when I go, there's a strong likelihood that someone might just take a few glances and trash the...