Mortality

his great turbine of a mind,

Apparently, one of the symptoms by which it is made known is that a tough veteran will say, seeking to make light of his experience, that “what didn’t kill me made me stronger.” This is one of the manifestations that “denial” takes.

In whatever kind of a “race” life may be, I have very abruptly become a finalist.

Also, ordinary expressions like “expiration date”… will I outlive my Amex? My driver’s license? People say—I’m in town on Friday: will you be around? WHAT A QUESTION!

For me, to remember friendship is to recall those conversations that it seemed a sin to break off: the ones that made the sacrifice of the following day a trivial one.

And we wouldn’t know it for certain until the day of his death. Earlier that day he had taken a

for a staggering, almost punishing memory that held up under the most liquid of late-night conditions.

Although the day was bathed in sorrow, there was a magical quality to the afternoon as it spilled into the evening

I repeat, this is no more than what a healthy person has to do in slower motion. It is our common fate. In either case, though, one can dispense with facile maxims that don’t live up to their apparent billing.