Death Happens

Lately the news is full of famous, newly-dead people, including Connie Francis, Hulk Hogan, Ozzy Osbourne, Chuck Mangione and that actor who played the son on The Cosby Show, which I never watched so I don't know him but his name is Malcolm-Jamal Warner. Many online comments lament their passing, but my favorite one is, "So many celebrities are dying -- what's going on?"

I had to laugh, since "what's going on" is life as usual. With the exception of Warner, who drowned at the relatively young age of 54, the others were old enough to die a natural death, if you get my drift. Dying, a normal occurrence that ends living, happens to everyone. Still, we are always shocked, even stunned, when it happens to someone close to us.

The worst thing is when a doctor says we have limited time left, like a friend of mine who was recently told she had "months to live." First of all, doctors are not gods, despite what all their mommies think. And secondly, let's not forget the actress Valerie Harper who made a public announcement that she had three months to live and then lived another three years, even making a movie during that time.

What everyone reading this has, for sure, is right now. So go make the most of it.