Death Happens

Gloria Steinem turns 80 this week, and to celebrate she is going to Botswana to ride elephants. Somehow that news cheers me. Compared to her, I am a mere girl. And I don't have to go to Botswana, another plus, or ride an elephant, which honestly sounds like a good time but not worth the long flight.

Anyway, an article about Gloria getting old enough to be dead from natural causes is in today's New York Times, and it's clear that she's happy with who she is--even joyful, even now.  Best of all, she's had no plastic surgery, a commendable decision in anyone but even more so in a celebrity. (I do have one friend who shall remain nameless who had a facelift and looks gorgeous and much younger, etc., but that's rare.) Sadly, the article does not have a current photo, just an illustration and a picture of a young Gloria, so maybe at 80 she doesn't look all that great, even though she's so upbeat.

In the interest of embracing old age, which beckons, I am considering enrolling in a 40-hour hospice training course, after which I will become a hospice volunteer. That seems like a more valuable way to spend time than filling chocolate Easter baskets with jelly beans, we can all agree. My one and only fear is that immersing myself in death will be depressing. But hey, if we could all just not think as death and/or dying as a negative, our lives would improve 100%, and instantly! So I'm going for it. Bring it on: bereavement, terminal illness, mourning, grief, end-of-life care, advance directives, dementia, pain management, funeral arrangements, blah, blah, blah. I can take it.