If you've been alive for any period of time, and accumulated any decent number of connections with family, friends, and community, you will have to deal with death. That, as they say, is part of living, or at least, being alive. It sort of reminds me of the old trope -- that I've been hearing a lot lately -- that goes something like, Don't complain about getting old, it's better than the alternative. And while I appreciate the sincerity of the sentiment, for me, it is not particularly comforting. I do not like the concept of getting older. I don't like spending time thinking about the various maladies that might soon begin to affect me. I don't like that I am noticably slower and less athletic than I was, say, fifteen years ago. I don't like the idea that references that I make to my childhood (sports, TV, music, entertainment) in the 1970s sounds like ancient history. My God, the three biggest technological advances of my youth that affected everyday living were: Cable TV available in our neighborhood in the late 1970s, the availability of 'call waiting' on your home phone in the early 1980s, and the creation of MTv in 1981. This was long before the proliferation of computers at home, and cellular telephones, etc., etc. But I digress. I don't like people I know dying. I've lost my mom, all my grandparents, aunts, uncles, two beautiful dogs, and close friends, and, soon, my father. I don't want to lose anyone else. Which, I know, makes me sound childish. But I don't care. I've had enough of death. And it's only getting started.
RSS Feed