My dear wife asked me was I going to be obsessed with dying now that I'm choosing to write about it. I can understand why she asked me, because it might give that appearance. It was hard for me to explain, so I thought maybe if I wrote about it, I might be able to better explain it. So here I am, saying it's not about becoming obsessed with dying. But I do accept that the very fact that I am here and alive means I won't be some day. This is true for all of us, and you don't need me to chime in and repeat that for you.
But there is some logic to all of this as seen through the lens of Laurel and Hardy's "Who's On First?" routine. As I explained, I have come to view the first part of my adult life as the Who's on 1st part--it was dominated with the growth of my family and the development of my career. It was so busy that there was little time for reflection or for writing about it. The next phase or part became What's On 2nd--and that was retirement and, since I could see it coming, I tried to prepare myself for it. Much of my outside, non-work attention was devoted to dreaming up what I would do and who I would become. I even spent time working on the idea of becoming a retirement coach of sorts. As things turned out, some other things came along and got in the way, but I did benefit from the time and attention I gave to What is On 2nd. I appreciate the retirement that I wound up with and feel a lot more grounded than I would have if I had just let it happen to me.
So now, I find myself looking ahead and wondering and that has led me to want to explore the next part which I am calling--I Don't Know's on 3d. What I am looking at there is what I am trying to explain now. As I said, this is not about religious belief--I have a strong Faith that tells me where things will wind up on the other end. What I'm wondering about is the process that will take me there. What is or should be the best approach to that process called dying? My belief is that there is bound to be humor, laughter, reflection and challenge along the way to getting there.
Already, I am seeing some funny things, some challenging opportunities and some strange activities around. For example, there's a doctor out there who is seriously proposing that LSD would be helpful for those getting close to the final stages. Here's another--there are actually people out there trying to choose the best places to die. And one more, there is hardly any training required of a person who wishes to become an M.D. in the area of treatment to those that are dying--seriously, everyone they treat will eventually die, don't you think it would be good for every doctor to know something (maybe even a lot of things) about it? None of this strikes me as morbid. Rather, it make me kind of curious.
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