[fintstone]

I don't know about the rest of you youngsters, but it seems that I am at the age where a friend or family member dies just about every day. It seems sort of normal for the older ones to be passing...but the parents that have to bury children or a spouse seem the hardest to take. A mother of one of my friends (who just died) has buried a husband and 3 or 4 kids (the oldest was about 63 and the rest much younger). Until recently, most of my friends that were my age either died by 30 or were still hanging on. About the time we hit our early 60s, the rest started dropping like flies. I really did not keep in touch with most, but cancer or heart attack seem the usual culprit. My parents and friends and relatives lived much longer. The ones that made it past 30 generally lived until their 80s...and some into their late 90s. Most were pretty active until they passed. Almost all are gone now. Funny how life seems so short when you hit a certain age. One might do well to recognize that a lot sooner.