I’ve been exercising a lot lately — Dani and I joined a gym last weekend — so I think that’s been pulling me out of my funk. I’m just now catching up with things.

Like the fact that Rex David Thomas, founder of Wendy’s, died this week.

I knew about it, but it quickly entered and left my stream of consciousness. But I just read his obit in the Wednesday SF Chronicle and, well, we lost a pretty cool guy.

I knew he was a big supporter of adoption and foster care, but I didn’t really know where that came from. He was adopted as a baby and lost his new mother when he was five. By the time he was 10 he had lost two step-mothers and was raised primarily by his grandmother.

In 1996, President Clinton signed a bill to give tax credits to families that have adopted children and credited Thomas with helping to get it passed.

One of Thomas’ biggest regrets was not completing high school. So, in 1993, at about 61 years old, he got a tutor and passed the GED. Mind you, this was well after he had established Wendy’s a major fast-food chain across the U.S.

Obituaries always make me feel lame. The purpose of an obit is to collect all of the information about a person to honor their memory. I’m sure much of this information about Dave Thomas had trickled in through the news over the years, but only a family member or obsessed Dave fan would have ever known much of it before the obit was researched and written. So, you read the obit and see what a great person the deceased was and, only then, begin to appreciate them for their works. That kind of sucks.

So, here’s my suggestion: A quarter life vivituary. When someone turns 25, a summary of all of their accomplishments to that point should be posted in the local paper. The same should happen at ages 50 and 75. If the person lives to 100, you’ll have the standard centarion article about someone being “100 years young” and asking for their secrets for a long life. And, of course, this will all be supplemental to the obituary.

This way, we celebrate life as well as death. We get to discover the amazing people in our community and give them the appreciation they deserve while they are still alive to enjoy it. And we generally feel pretty good about everything.

So, ask yourself this: What will be in your vivituary? My 25th passed almost two years ago, so I’d probably have to get to work on my 50th, though that’s a ways away. I think my work in my industry, my education at Cal and the love of my life Dani would have to be the highlights up to this point. Plans for the future: starting my own company, building my dream home and world domination. Not necessarily in that order.