“Damn, that was a really good ride!!!”

Nora Ephron – What a Woman. Heard the news this morning: Nora Ephron has died. A very bright light gone. During an interview taped some time ago she talked about getting older. She has written extensively about this over her life, and I think she had no illusions about aging. I did though. Anyway, she said that most if not all of us believe that “it” won’t happen to us. Others might need glasses to read, or new teeth to eat, or get sick, but we won’t. In fact, she said, most of us think we might, just might be the first not to die. That’s me. I have had all of those fantasies.  But as I sit here with my reading glasses on, my own teeth with many crowns, a survivor of CAD and with a current water works issue, I guess I can’t maintain that final illusion. As she was talking the words to an old country song, witten by of all people Shel Silverstein of Playboy fame, started playing in my mental i-whatever:

Stop drinkin' booze, you're still gonna die.
Stay away from cooze, you're still gonna die.
You can cut out coffee and never get high,
But you're still gonna, still gonna, still gonna die.

Yeah, you can do what ever-the-hell you want, but you’re still gonna die. Damn. Nora told of a friend who was dying of throat cancer and couldn’t eat the last meal of favorites she always loved. Nora’s advice? Eat that meal NOW! Eat it OFTEN! And don’t wait, because like her friend you may be unable to do it.
Good advice. Mine too. But more generally it is this: As you can, do those things you want to do. Save up and do them. Do them on the cheap. Do them and charge it. But for heaven’s sake, Do Them!!! WWWD? Drink the good wine, eat the favorite food, love the companion with intensity, see the world and then die. So far I have done all of those and with any luck will carry on doing them for a bit longer. But, if death comes sooner rather than later, at least I can say “Damn, that was a really good ride!!!”
Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdEoputkE98
Earlier Essay in Woody's World: http://searchesworld.blogspot.com/2010/08/still-gonna-die.html
Image: http://distilleryimage5.s3.amazonaws.com/7c4404ac763511e1b9f1123138140926_7.jpg