ONE IS THE LONELIEST NUMBER

   "One"

One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
Two can be as bad as one
It's the loneliest number since the number one

No is the saddest experience you'll ever know
Yes, it's the saddest experience you'll ever know

'Cause one is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
One is the loneliest number, worse than two

It's just no good anymore since you went away
Now I spend my time just making rhymes of yesterday

~Three Dog Night

I originally was going to write a post about the missing Malaysian jet airliner that has been on the news twenty-four hours a day because I am truly amazed that in 2014, with all of the satellite technology we have to spy on each other, or keep track of movement and location via GPS systems, that as of the date of this post, the story of the missing jet airliner is still playing itself out with almost a complete lack of information about this ill fated flight.

The sad souls of the Malaysian airliner may go missing for awhile longer or forever, and for reasons still unknown, but at least the world collectively cares about them and is cooperating to try and solve the mystery of what actually happened to those people.

Along the same line, I have come across some stories about individuals who nobody cared about and who went missing for many years, even decades, before their whereabouts where eventually discovered. The idea for this story all started when I was watching the news and learned of a lady who went missing from 2008 until March of 2014. 

The most bizarre and surreal part of her story is that this “missing” lady was at her house the entire time. She was dead in her garage in the back seat of her car. She was only discovered when her automatic bill pay service from the bank exhausted all of her funds and her home went into foreclosure. An unlucky fellow sent by the bank to inspect the house found her and then the world discovered the sad and lonely story of Pia Farrenkopf. 

How could this have possibly happened? Well, it appears that these types of events are not entirely that uncommon.

In January 2006, the body of an English woman was found in her London flat after almost three years of being dead. Lying on the sofa was the skeleton of 38-year-old Joyce Vincent. Despite the smell of decomposition emanating from her apartment, her remains were undiscovered for almost three years.

Sources indicated that Joyce was known to be a socially active woman, having met figures such as Nelson Mandela, Ben E. King, and even had dinner with Steve Wonder. It is believed that in 2001, she moved into a shelter for domestic violence victims and cut off contact with family and friends due to embarrassment. Her automatic bill payments kept her off the radar for quite a few months until officials from a housing association made the gruesome discovery.

She is believed to have passed away around December 2003.

In August 2013, the decomposed body of Geneva Smith Chambers was found in her Florida home by a landscaper. This woman, unlike the others, preferred to live in solitude. Neighbors believe she had abandoned the house due to a foreclosure in 2010. However, they continued to maintain her lawn outside the home unaware of her death.

Her last known contact was in April 2010.

In July 2011, the skeleton of an elderly Australian woman was found on the floor of her Sydney home, eight years after her death, when her sister-in-law finally reported her missing. The two apparently had an argument back in 2003 and never spoke again. As the years passed, utilities were cut off but the welfare agency continued to pay for her benefits to her account, which remained untouched. Mail was forwarded to her sister-in-law’s home but eventually stopped. Neighbors believed the home was vacant.

No one had a clue that inside the home, laid the body of an elderly woman who would have been 87 years old when she was found.

In the end, as the cliché that is often repeated---although people really do not think about it as much as they should because we are all caught up in the hectic pace of life---when we depart this world all of the material possessions we have accumulated are not going to bring us a sense of peace and joy and the extra hours at the office are not what we are going to wish we had spent more of our life doing.

Instead, we are going to wish we had spent more time with those we love, and who love us.  I have spoken to many very elderly individuals or terminally ill people and they all say that most people are in too much of a rush, obsessed with the pursuit of material things that only bring temporary happiness (if at all), and never spend enough time focusing on the very basic things in life that truly bring joy, i.e. good friends, family, travel, fun, shared experiences, good memories, etc.

Although this lesson is often learned too late in life, the concept of what is “really” important is a universally accepted truth if you have ever had the experience of spending the last days with someone and being a part of their graceful walk towards the end of life.

In that regard, I urge you to take heed of the cautionary tales above of those who let family and friends slip away to such an extent that when they went missing for years, nobody even noticed or cared. Start this very day establishing or reestablishing the relationships in life that are the most important and valuable possessions we all really have in the end. 

~Leonardo G. Renaud

**The author wishes to acknowledge the research and contribution

    of his legal assistant Erika Oviedo for this post.**