Thursday, November 23, 2006

Sick Old Age

My friend and I sat last night with a glass of wine and discussed our good fortune. We're relatively healthy, retired, and enjoying this time in our lives immensely. We also surmised that the reason we're enjoying ourselves so much is because we know how close we are to the ends of our lives, which could include illness.

Don't think this was a sad conversation because it wasn't. We both believe strongly in a life after death so death doesn't overly frighten us. All life has it's cycles and even a child knows that some day they'll pass on, hopefully to a better place than this.

My worst fear is that I'll become a burden to my children. Some of them would say that I'm already a pain in the ass but that's beside the point. One night last summer, when my ex-sister-in-law stayed with me for a few days, we sat drinking wine (seems to be a common thread) until 5 A.M. and talked about everything under the sun. One of the topics was how I'd handle being old and sick and living on my own. Mary adamantly said "if that ever happens, one of us will be right here to take care of you". She was referring to herself and my sister-in-law, Faye, and I realized how lucky I was to have good friends like this. We know we'll take care of each other when the time comes...for any of us.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy every day that I'm allowed and thank my lucky stars for giving me my wonderful family and friends.

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