Wednesday, July 31, 2013
NPR Host Tweets His Mom's Death
Tweeting his mother's death to a million
John Timpane, Inquirer Staff Writer LAST UPDATED: Wednesday, July 31, 2013, 1:08 AM It was a sad, humble, spectacular performance. Before 1.2 million people, a man told of the passing of his mother, step by step, day by day. He told this most human of stories in bursts of 140 characters, on Twitter, the microblogging site. The storyteller was Scott Simon, National Public Radio host. On July 16, he first mentioned his mother's crisis in the ICU of an undisclosed Chicago hospital ("Mother called: 'I can't talk. I'm surrounded by handsome men.' Emergency surgery. If you can hold a thought for her now. . . . "). Starting July 23, his tweets ("I just want to say that ICU nurses are remarkable people. Thank you for what you do for our loved ones") focused solely on her passing. Simon's tweets are marked by humane dignity, understatement, openness ("I love holding my mother's hand. Haven't held it like this since I was 9. Why did I stop? I thought it unmanly? What crap"), and humor about death ("But as my mother said, the nice thing about being a Chicagoan is that she'll continue to be able to vote on Election Day"). Other tweeters have done similar things, but probably none has been so much in the public eye. Big celebs (Katie Couric) and venues (AARP, Buzzfeed, NBC's Today, Washington Post, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times) either retweeted or wrote about it. Simon's entire feed viralized. Monday night he wrote, "The heavens over Chicago have opened and Patricia Lyons Simon Newman has stepped onstage." He repurposed a couplet from Romeo and Juliet: "She will make the face of heaven shine so fine that all the world will be in love with night." Twitter responded with condolences and appreciation. Twitter, Facebook, and other social media - even largely nonverbal Instagram, which is all about photos - invite us to be storytellers around imaginary campfires, ringed with friends, acquaintances, and family. Have these media changed storytelling itself? Depends on whom you ask. John Beatty, associate professor of English and digital arts at La Salle University, does see novel techniques. "When Scott runs over 140 characters, he simply runs over into the next tweet." Steve Buttry, digital transformation editor at Digital First Media, tweeted on his nephew's death in Afghanistan in November. He writes by e-mail that a Twitter narration "doesn't flow the same as a string of paragraphs artfully crafted by an excellent writer. Just as an audio or video story isn't the same. But Twitter is a powerful storytelling platform and few have used it as well as Simon did in his mother's final days." Mallary Jean Tenore of the Poynter Institute writes (via Twitter) that "the storytelling's different in that it's more succinct. Every word counts. . . . Twitter can go a long way in teaching us how to write short & well." Robert McKee, far-famed story doctor, is head of Robert McKee's Story Seminar. "Curmudgeon that I am," he says by phone, "I see Twitter not as a revolution in communication but a revolution in banality." He is skeptical about its chances as a storytelling medium. "Storytelling is a temporal art," he says. "Telling a tale through tweets is the equivalent of a ballet dancer coming onstage and doing a single pirouette and leaving, or a musician hitting a single chord and leaving." It can't be said that Simon's account is short on emotion ("Thought that my mother won't get another glimpse of the city she loves is unbearable"). Margaret Low Smith, senior vice president for news at NPR, sees the happy/sad tweets as an extension of Simon's essays on Weekend Edition, "only one sentence at a time. He's always had this gift of walking the delicate line between humor and heartbreak." But was it right? Seemly? To share with so many such an intense, sacred story? Some would rather that Simon's grief and his mother's death had remained private. Janine Mariscotti, assistant professor of social work at La Salle University, says "it's still socially inappropriate in the United States to spend a long time talking about the process of dying, as Scott does." But Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon says that "life is no longer either or public or private." She feels Simon's story "loses none of that intimate power just because it was doled out a few hundred characters at a time, while a few million people watched." (For his part, Simon said in an NPR interview on Tuesday that "I certainly had a sense of proportion and delicacy. . . . I didn't tweet anything and wouldn't have that I didn't think she would be totally comfortable with.") Mariscotti says Simon's tweets probably had a therapeutic effect for both writer and readers. "Dying is so mysterious, and some of his tweets, such as the one in which his mother cries, 'Help me,' in the middle of the night, give us a glimpse into it. Plus we get to see the mother-son relationship. Scott even challenges our seriousness, with his humor." In her Poynter blog, Tenore writes that attitudes have changed. In 2008, Berny Morson of the Rocky Mountain News tweeted from a funeral and was reviled as "repulsive." These days, it happens all the time. The coarsening of American culture? A way to expand the sharing circle? Depends on whom you ask. There appeared to be fewer objections to the propriety of Simon's tweets Tuesday than questions about their authenticity. "People online are on their guard for things that are too well-turned," says Beatty, "almost as if professionalism is the opposite of being real. But with Simon, you have a guy who can probably generate a well-turned tweet pretty much on the fly." Meanwhile, Simon keeps tweeting. Now he's dealing with the comic aspects of mortuary science: "Cemetery at first confuses my mother w/ another Patricia. Almost interred next to total stranger. Why not make new friends?"
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130731_Tweeting_his_mother_s_death_to_a_million.html#wqVu1ozKGSHJV4XD.99
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
How Much Does It Cost To Die?
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The United States Of Aging Survey 2013
Resources
For Professionals
- Connections with Community and Family—Not Money—Most Important for Seniors' Quality of Life
- Coming Soon: New Flu + You Toolkit
For Older Adults and Caregivers
For Advocates
The United States of Aging Survey 2013
Press Release >>Topline Results >>USA TODAY Article >>Town Hall on July 30 at 4 p.m. ET >>Resource Kit >> |
Are today’s older adults ready for the realities of aging in America? Are America’s communities ready to meet the needs of the rapidly growing senior population?
In its second year, NCOA, UnitedHealthcare, and USA TODAY surveyed 4,000 U.S. adults to examine what underlies American seniors’ perspectives on aging, and how the country can better prepare for a booming senior population.
Key Findings
- When asked what’s most important to maintaining a high quality of life in their senior years, staying connected to friends and family was the top choice of 4 in 10 seniors, ahead of having financial means (30%).
- Seniors focused on taking care of their health are more optimistic about aging: nearly two-thirds (64%) of optimistic seniors have set one or more specific goals to manage their health in the past 12 months, compared with 47% of the overall senior population.
- Most seniors (71%) feel the community they live in is responsive to their needs, but less than half (49%) believe their community is doing enough to prepare for the future needs of the growing senior population.
Survey Details
Get detailed national survey findings, as well as data on several subsets of respondents.
National Results
Results by Audience
- Optimistic seniors and depressed/isolated seniors
- Older seniors, low-income seniors, and seniors with three or more chronic health conditions
Results by City
- Birmingham Fact Sheet | Results
- Indianapolis Fact Sheet | Results
- Los Angeles Fact Sheet | Results
- Orlando Fact Sheet | Results
- San Antonio Fact Sheet | Results
Sponsored with:
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Monday, July 29, 2013
What Are Your Thoughts As You Kill An Ant?, Comic, Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis
PEARLS BEFORE SWINE by Stephan Pastis
Friday, July 26, 2013
What Do I Do When A Loved One Dies Away From Home?
Thanks to imsorrytohear:
Help! My Uncle Died in Arizona… What Do I Do When A Loved One Dies Away From Home?
by imsorrytohear
Transportation of Remains via Air
It is stressful enough when a loved one dies, but when a loved one dies away from home there is an added layer of complexity. What is the common process of transporting the deceased home or to the location of the funeral? To get answers to these questions, we spoke with Anne Wladecki, Client Relations Manager at Eagle’s Wings Air (EWA), specialists in air transportation management of human remains, to shed some insight on this topic.
According to Anne, it is unnecessary for the family of the deceased to be directly involved in setting up air transportation of their loved one. She indicates that the first step for the family involved is to contact a funeral home of their choice at the location of where the funeral will take place. This funeral home, known as the Receiving Funeral Home, will do the majority of the coordination on behalf of the family.
The Receiving Funeral Home has the responsibility of coordinating all flights and contacting the Shipping Funeral Home, the funeral home holding the deceased. If the family is familiar with the location where the death occurred, they could request a particular Shipping Funeral Home, otherwise they can ask the Receiving Funeral Home to identify and coordinate with one at the shipping location, including making arrangements for ground transport from the hospital, morgue, assisted living facility, etc. to the Shipping Funeral Home for preparation for air travel.
Human remains are considered to be “specialty cargo” which has limited space on passenger flights. Typically they can only be carried on larger passenger planes, which only allow one or two spaces per flight.
The Receiving Funeral Home will coordinate the date, time, cost, and specific airline being used directly with the airline or with a 3rd party like Eagle’s Wings Air. A family should indicate to the funeral home their preference with regards to costs, timing, and body preparation at the shipping location.
Once these details have been confirmed and costs approved by the family, the Shipping Funeral Home will prepare the body for air transportation. No law requires remains to be embalmed for flight. Therefore, the Shipping Funeral Home will either embalm the body or preserve it for transportation with gel packs or dry ice as requested by the family.
Then the Shipping Funeral Home will transport the body to the airport’s cargo center. Upon arrival at the destination airport, the Receiving Funeral Home will pick up the shipment and bring it back to the funeral home to complete preparations as indicated by the family.
The Receiving Funeral Home or a 3rd party company would coordinate the transportation of your deceased loved one to the location of the funeral home, but families should be aware of a few more details.
Costs: What to Expect
Air transport of remains can be quite costly. Wladecki says it is similar to booking a last minute round-trip flight for a passenger – hundreds of dollars for domestic flights and thousands if international. To assist with the cost, Wladecki advises families to check their travel insurance, if applicable, to see if the cost or part of the cost would be covered by the insurance if the death happened, especially while on vacation or a business trip.
Aside from the cost of the airfare, families should also take into consideration the following costs:
Ground Transport to the airport by the Shipping Funeral Home
Ground Transport from the airport to the Receiving Funeral home
Booking or Service Fees (EWA charges $59 for domestic services and $89 for international, for example)
Key Terms:
Shipping Funeral Home :
The funeral home at the origin location (where the person died). The Shipping Funeral Home is responsible for obtaining, preparing, and tendering the remains at the airport to be shipped to the Receiving Funeral Home.
Receiving Funeral Home:
The funeral home at the destination where the family is intending for the burial or cremation. Normally the Receiving Funeral Home is appointed first since they will do the majority of the coordination with the airline and the Shipping Funeral Home. They will likely consolidate the costs for the family, so the family only has to pay one funeral home.
About Eagle’s Wings Air:
Eagle’s Wings Air is the leading provider of air transportation management for North American funeral directors. Eagle’s Wings Air is a 3rd party service that works directly with funeral homes to assist in the arrangement of flight services for human remains. Eagle’s Wings Air works with all the different airlines. To assist the funeral director, EWA researches and books flights, coordinates transfer flights, and finds the best routing for the funeral homes on behalf of the families they serve.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
The Day I Die, Poem by Krista Lukas
Death comes to us all eventually:
The Day I Die
will be a Saturday or a Tuesday, maybe.
A day with a weather forecast, a high and a low. There will be news: a scandal, a disaster, some good deed. The mail will come. People will walk their dogs. The day I die will be a certain day, a square on a calendar page to be flipped up and pinned at the end of the month. It may be August or November; school will be out or in; somebody will have to catch a plane. There will be messages, bills to pay, things left undone. It will be a day like today, or tomorrow—a date I might note with a reminder, an appointment, or nothing at all. |
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Mother's Death Surreal; She Vanished, Poem by Rosanna Warren
Mediterranean
—when she disappeared on the path ahead of me
I leaned against a twisted oak, all I saw was evening light where she had been: gold dust light, where a moment before and thirty-eight years before that my substantial mother strode before me in straw hat, bathing suit, and loose flapping shirt, every summer afternoon, her knapsack light across her back, her step, in sandals, firm on the stony path as we returned from the beach and I mulled small rebellions and observed the dwarfish cork trees with their pocky bark, the wind-wrestled oaks with arms akimbo, while shafts of sea-light stabbed down between the trunks. There was something I wanted to say, at the age of twelve, some question she hadn't answered, and yesterday, so clearly seeing her pace before me it rose again to the tip of my tongue, and the mystery was not that she walked there, ten years after her death, but that she vanished, and let twilight take her place— |
Sunday, July 21, 2013
At Melville's Tomb, Poem, Death Through Eyes Of Herman Melville
At Melville’s Tomb
Often beneath the wave, wide from this ledge
The dice of drowned men’s bones he saw bequeath
An embassy. Their numbers as he watched,
Beat on the dusty shore and were obscured.
And wrecks passed without sound of bells,
The calyx of death’s bounty giving back
A scattered chapter, livid hieroglyph,
The portent wound in corridors of shells.
Then in the circuit calm of one vast coil,
Its lashings charmed and malice reconciled,
Frosted eyes there were that lifted altars;
And silent answers crept across the stars.
Compass, quadrant and sextant contrive
No farther tides . . . High in the azure steeps
Monody shall not wake the mariner.
This fabulous shadow only the sea keeps.
– Hart Crane
The dice of drowned men’s bones he saw bequeath
An embassy. Their numbers as he watched,
Beat on the dusty shore and were obscured.
And wrecks passed without sound of bells,
The calyx of death’s bounty giving back
A scattered chapter, livid hieroglyph,
The portent wound in corridors of shells.
Then in the circuit calm of one vast coil,
Its lashings charmed and malice reconciled,
Frosted eyes there were that lifted altars;
And silent answers crept across the stars.
Compass, quadrant and sextant contrive
No farther tides . . . High in the azure steeps
Monody shall not wake the mariner.
This fabulous shadow only the sea keeps.
– Hart Crane
I first read Hart Crane in a poetry anthology. It was this poem, in fact, that led me to seek out more of his work. At the time, I was fully enthralled with T.S. Eliot, who still ranks among the giants in my personal pantheon of writers, but Crane has long been the standard by which I judge my own poetry (and I fall pathetically short of that standard, I know).
Crane may be one of the most difficult modern poets to comprehend. Each line is so packed with meaning that a lifetime of study rarely reveals the true depth of any Crane poem.
Take just the first four lines of “At Melville’s Tomb” for example — we have thrown together the idea of random chance in life (the dice), fortune telling (again, the dice), death that is both caused by chance and leads to chance, and a diplomatic connection between the living and the dead (the embassy). And even with that brief inventory of meanings, we still do not arrive at an articulate connection between the words and their impact on the reader.
Crane called this the “logic of metaphor:”
. . . [A]s a poet, I may very possibly be more interested in the so-called illogical impingements of the connotations of words on the consciousness (and their combinations and interplay in metaphor on this basis) than I am interested in the preservation of their logically rigid significations at the cost of limiting my subject matter and the perceptions involved in the poem.
“At Melville’s Tomb” is one of the best illustrations of Crane’s point. While the poem is backed with unexpected flights of word play, the language is in no way trivialized and the overall scope of the poem remains cohesive and coherent. Crane takes unusual words, combines them in unusual ways and beats out odd rhythms on his way to hitting you in the gut with a powerful image. In this case, it is an image of death and fate seen through the closed eyes of Herman Melville.
Take a line like “Frosted eyes there were that lifted altars …” The phrase does not necessarily communicate a straightforward thought, but it is a powerful image once you piece together the look of a drowning man’s eyes, staring heavenward as he descends to the depths of a pitiless and icy sea, lifting prayers for his very soul as death becomes inevitable. A lesser poet would have been more direct, and therefore less powerful.
Crane is by no means an easy poet to comprehend, but none of the truly great poets ever are. Life is never easy, so how can a poet truly hope to reflect reality in simple phrases and trite observations? Language is, after all, a poor tool for describing life, so the poet must squeeze every ounce of meaning from the pitifully few words he has to choose from and illuminate our being as best he can. Crane did better than most.
- Howard Owens
Friday, July 19, 2013
Dirge Without Music, Poem, Burial & Darkness Of Grave
Dirge Without Music
I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind: Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned. Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you. Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust. A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew, A formula, a phrase remains,—but the best is lost. The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,— They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve. More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world. Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind; Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave. I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned. |
A Lemming Leaping Despite Grammatical Error, Pearls Before Swine Comic by Stephan Pastis
Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis July 19, 2013
Thursday, July 18, 2013
How Does The Funeral Rule Protect Funeral Consumers Per The Federal Trade Commission?
THE FUNERAL RULE
The Funeral Rule is implemented and enforced by the Federal Trade Commission to protect funeral consumers. The following rules must be followed by funeral homes:- If you visit a funeral home in person, the funeral provider is required by law to give you a general price list itemizing the cost of the items and services the home offers.
- If the general price list does not include specific prices of caskets or outer burial containers, the law requires the funeral director to show you the price lists for those items before showing you the items.
- The Funeral Rule requires funeral directors to provide price information over the phone to any caller who asks for it.
- Many funeral providers offer various "packages" of commonly selected goods and services that make up a funeral. But when you arrange for a funeral, you have the right to buy individual goods and services. That is, you do not have to accept a package that may include items you do not want.
- The funeral provider may not refuse, or charge a fee, to handle a casket you bought elsewhere.
- A funeral provider that offers cremations must make alternative containers available.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
"Evil Dead" Film !! - Kill All Deadites
Whoa !!
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| © 2013 Evil Dead, LLC. All Rights Reserved. © 2013 Layout and Design Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved. *NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. Sweepstakes begins 12:00 a.m. PT 7/16/13 and ends 11:59 p.m. PT 8/16/13. Open only to legal residents of the 48 contiguous U.S. and D.C., ages 18+. One entry per person. Odds depend on number of entries. Each prize includes flights & accommodations for the winner and one (1) guest. Estimated retail value of each prize: $2,300. The winner and their guest must be able to travel between 9/19/13 and 11/1/13. See OFFICIAL RULES for complete details. Sponsor: Universal City Studios LLC d/b/a Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal City Development Partners, Ltd. d/b/a Universal Orlando Resort. | ||||||||||
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Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Referee Stabs Soccer Player To Death, Fans Kill Referee And Behead Him - Brazilian Soccer Violence
On June 30 a referee stabbed a soccer player to death during a dispute over a call at a game in the northern state of Maranhao, Brazil. The crowd then swarmed the referee, cut off his head, arms, and legs, and put the head on a spike in the field !!!!!
Brazil will host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. There have been mass protests in Brazil recently due to public frustration with corruption, high taxes, poor government services and the billions of dollars the nation is spending to prepare for the World Cup and Olympics while its economy sags and services lag.
Thanks to Philadelphia Inquirer editorial re Brazil and soccer fan safety ("Brazil can't expect soccer fans to feel safe") on Tuesday, July 16, 2013.
Brazil will host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. There have been mass protests in Brazil recently due to public frustration with corruption, high taxes, poor government services and the billions of dollars the nation is spending to prepare for the World Cup and Olympics while its economy sags and services lag.
Thanks to Philadelphia Inquirer editorial re Brazil and soccer fan safety ("Brazil can't expect soccer fans to feel safe") on Tuesday, July 16, 2013.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Aging: Transition To Elderhood, Old-Age
Philadelphia Inquirer, Sunday, July 7, 2013, Currents Section, Front Page, Page C1
Jumping into what you know is a
downward trip
Anyone who makes it to 60 has made it through many potentially fatal situations. That doesn't make the transition to elderhood easier.
As soon as my mother turned 75, she started telling people she was nearly 80.
It upset me. I would tell her to stop pushing the clock. She would get there soon enough, and I didn't want her nudging, even hypothetically, any closer to dying.
So she would have laughed to hear me over the last few years telling people I was nearly 60.
When my mother rounded up, I assumed it was because she thought older women received more respect. Or at least discounts.
Now I realize that wasn't her primary motivation. She was just being brave. Recognizing that her time was running out, and unflinching in the face of a challenge, she went on the offensive. The end is near? Fine. She accelerated (psychologically) toward the finish line.
I am like my mother in many ways. But my own motives for prematurely claiming 60 had more to do with fear than proaction.
Nervous about crossing the border into old age, I was giving myself a test run. Which is a little like getting ready for major surgery by giving yourself paper cuts.
Nothing dramatic happened in June when I really did reach the same ripe, relatively old age as Cyndi Lauper, Hulk Hogan, Sharon Osbourne, and Son of Sam.
The day after, I was no more addled or rickety. But once you are definitively on the downside of the hill, your perspective changes.
Something about that number. It's so . . . large. Only four away from "will you still need me, will you still feed me?" Only barely enough time to outlive a cat.
The Social Security Administration publishes an actuarial table that predicts how many more years you can expect to look forward to, starting from birth (when you have a whopping 80.81 to go) until age 119 (when, incredibly, the statisticians give you an additional 0.61).
Last year, at 59, according to their calculations, I had 25 years and three months before my expiration date.
Now, I am down to 24 years and four months.
The odds, in other words, are ever less in my favor.
All life is a gamble, of course. Anyone who makes it to 60 has escaped a hoary parade of potentially fatal situations.
Suffocating in the crib as an infant. Getting hit by a school bus in second grade. Succumbing to leukemia in junior high school.
I could have cracked open my skull barreling down hills on a bike trip through North Carolina in the 1970s, before anyone wore helmets. Or hemorrhaged to death giving birth.
At 33, I might have drowned in the Hudson River when a semi clipped my Honda Civic midspan on the George Washington Bridge. (The guard rail held.) I've lost count of the near-misses on the New Jersey Turnpike. And then, when I was 37, there was the wardrobe malfunction at a la-di-da restaurant when I nearly died of embarrassment.
The maitre d' came to our table. "You have a phone call," he said. (It was the pre-cellphone era.) He then escorted me to a discreet, shadowy vestibule and informed me that my wraparound dress had, ahem, madam, disengaged. In the interest of self-preservation, I convinced myself he was the only one who had noticed.
Having survived the obstacle course thus far, however, offers no guarantees that my generally good luck will hold. And I have pressed it. A few weeks ago, I went paragliding, which involved jumping off a mountain while desperately clutching the strings to a kite - and the total stranger I was trusting to float me back safely to the ground.
Even more reckless, I still drive a car - a death-defying stunt that killed 34,000 people last year. I also eat raw spinach, tempting the E. coli gods to strike me down.
In most other respects, I am trying to behave responsibly. For now, I seem to be holding up fairly well, and my husband is, too.
Neither one of us has blown any critical gaskets. No organs have failed. No parts need replacing. We have ourselves appropriately scoped and prodded. And all our drug use is legal, necessary, and no fun.
We both know, however, that there is only so much a body can do to fend off the inevitable. So now, more than ever, we are hedging our bets. Trying to enjoy the now in case there's not much now left. But not quitting too early or cashing out should we end up lasting another 30 years, bored and broke.
Our youngest child, entering her last year of college, is wondering what to do with the rest of her life. Like her, a rising senior, I wonder the same.
A few of our friends who retired early are traveling, taking courses, volunteering, or babysitting the grandchildren. But some of the happiest old people we know kept working until they were well into their 80s.
As much as I love my job -.
No.
I am not at all ready to quit work or my mortal coil. Nevertheless, the idea that the end is nearer, if not near, has been creeping into all kinds of conversations. And for my children, creeping is the operative word.
Last week, for instance, a contractor laying out our options for a new roof suggested we go for one that lasted a lifetime instead of only 20 years.
"At this point," I laughed, "20 years is a lifetime."
"Don't say that," my older daughter groaned.
"It's true," I said, although I understood. It upset her because she doesn't want to think, even hypothetically, about me dying.
There is something to be said for this keener awareness that the party won't go on forever. It helps you appreciate the time you have left. A few years ago, when a friend of mine was dying of cancer, she said she longed to sit at the edge of a lake, reading a book, dipping her feet in the water.
That is an aspiration worth acting upon.
Like my mother, I want to face the future unflinching. But the more I think about getting old, the more I realize it's the present that really matters.
After all, my mother never made it to 80. She never got to be as old as she imagined herself.
The anticipation is much worse than the reality. So this year, I think I'll just enjoy being 60.
That's plenty for now.
E-mail Melissa Dribben at mdribben@phillynews.com.
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