As it so often happens while on the Internet, something triggered a long lost memory in the back recesses of my mind, and I performed an impromptu search for somebody I went to high school with—briefly—in Ankara, Turkey, some 21 years ago.

I didn’t find that person, but I stumbled upon the guestbook for my old high school. Email links were paired by the names of each classmate who wished to allow long-lost connections to contact them, save one. Instead, the link was titled “In Memoriam” and led to an obituary in the Ft. Worth-Star Telegram, whereupon I learned a woman—who I knew in passing during high school—had just last fall lost a five-year battle with breast cancer.

It made me suddenly very, very sad. I’m going to try to not look at the stars tonight.