"I'm alright," Tom sighs. "just numb."
"Aren't you glad it isn't you?" the former Beatle asks.
After an awkward moment, Petty laughs answering, "Yeah!"
While honesty is refreshing, it's sometimes not in good taste to say what you really think regardless of how true it is!
Ultimately Harrison fought for life with alternative treatments until his time finally came to the obvious conclusion ... Living's better than dying!
Sarah often gets mad over my cavalier attitude towards death.
It's going to happen and I don't worry about it too much.
This isn't to say I'm in a hurry as I find life fascinating, joyful, frustrating and always unexpected that it'll take an entire a lifetime to explore all the facets of being here.
I'm fond of describing the number of lives I've lived, constant reincarnations during the same lifetime ... the growing up in a small town life, High School and the discovery of sex life, married in College life, Fatherhood as a child life, radical Seminarian life, Corporate Life, Jet set life, author and public figure life, Suddenly-Single Life, Beach Bum wanna-be life, Happily married with Children life ... as my rebirthing continues into my sixtieth year.
It's both funny and true that each of these life episodes came to an end, tiny episodes of death shoving me on to the next adventure in living.
Lots of folks remain focused on what was rather than moving on and, while there are certainly people and things I miss, and it's hard as Hell to put one foot in front of the other, I'm living this new life now that's radically different from each of the others.
I try to celebrate the good times and people I've been blessed with mixed with gratitude for surviving the bad times and near death experiences.
Of course the grand finale of every life is the end ... not much different from a play, song or movie ... and they finish in a blaze, abruptly stop or continuously repeat an every softening refrain until it's over.
Working with Hospice made me realize mechanics of the end are all the same and it's what we bring to it that makes a difference.
I'm also trying to learn from the life I've lived so far and, it seems, there's already been a lot of little tiny deaths preparing me for the big one.
Some things are going to end, never to be repeated, recovered or resurrected. People will forget my greatest accomplishments, accolades and achievements though they may occasionally be referenced. Those I believed would always be with me won't and when all's said and done, it'll just be me being carried off the stage.
But each time a part of my life came to an end and it was just me starting over, there's never been an ultimate finality because ... something else happened ... and like a Timex Watch, I kept on ticking!
Making it funnier is each subsequent life I've lived has been better than it's predecessor!
So while I'm glad it's not me yet, I'm not too worried.
This song keeps running through my brain ... O Bla Dee! O Bla Da! Life goes on!
Just as I had no idea how it did before, I have none of how it will when I die though looking back it seems I've been training for it my whole life.
