With all of these celebrity deaths, I have been thinking that It is eerie when someone close to us in age conks out suddenly.
I was talking with a friend yesterday and he told me about a short story that he had read. A man had been approached by a stranger when he was in his 20s and he was told the exact moment that he would die. The date was many, many years into the future so the man just went about his life, doing what people do. He was comfortable knowing that he was safe and certain to live up to the age of 88. No amount of sickness or injury stood in the way of his timeline. When he turned 88, he had a clock built to begin the countdown to the final minute. He had lived a great life, had moderate success in Love, family and business so he felt as if his life were complete. He did have some fears leading up to the zero hour but as time ticked closer, he began to grow at peace with it. The final minute was near. He had already said his goodbyes to his family, paid off his debts, signed the will to give everything away to those he felt deserved it, and in what was to be his final act, thanked God for his life. He closed his eyes as the ten second mark closed in. He was ready.
He waited. The clock stopped ticking. He waited a few seconds and opened his eyes.....He was still alive! It immediately occurred to him that now he was not sure of his fate. He began to worry. For 60+ years he thought he knew the exact moment of his demise and now he was in the great unknown....like MOST of us.
(Cue Rod Serling and the Twilight Zone theme?)
