I am getting to the part of life where the adults I remember from my childhood have passed away. Death always seems so strange in its finality. What I was younger I used to dream about my uncle, my first experience with death at 17. Up until my 40s I used to dream that he would come back and his death had been a hoax to escape the law. Now I miss those dreams, despite waking to remember he had really passed and sometimes crying. I'm not sure of the psychology behind such dreams, but since I don't have them anymore I miss them. For a brief moment the death had never happened. It always seems impossible that I will never see them again, my grandmother, grandfather, aunts and uncles, etc. Death seems like the worst bad joke - you are waiting for a punchline that will never come.

Life is terribly short, so make the best of it.

Yeah, these sudden deaths coming out of nowhere are reminders to live each day as we wish, tell people who matter that we love them, and put our affairs in order. That last one is something I hope to work on soon, as I have a week off coming up.

I'm almost exactly my mom's age when she died suddenly. So this coming week is when I want to make my will, list out my end of life directives and start getting my house cleared of unwanted items, so it won't be too much of a burden on my kids, even though I think I'm going to last a good 30+ years yet.

Very sorry for your loss. Yes, death awaits us all. It is our fate. But twenty-seven is too young!

I am sorry for your grief. It must be considerable at this point. I've become a Houseboy for my friend/Landlord who is dying. She's in renal failure and ten years older than me so very frail. It's a sad thing to watch happen and will shut off my freedom to travel until she goes. Sometimes Zen sucks and this is when meditation is even more helpful.