0190

One thing people rarely talk about is the amount of work that must be done by surviving loved ones after a person dies.

The phone calls that need to be made. The forms that need to be signed.

0190 are the last four digits of my father’s social security number.

Now that he is gone, those four simple numbers carry so much more weight to me than they ever did when he was alive.

Funny thing is, I find myself using them regularly now to identify my father to various entities who have never met him and never will.

“Name, Social, DOB.”

Always the same.

“Sorry for your loss.”

Etc. Etc.

So here he is.

0190