Tag: mortality

“You need a lung transplant, you are very sick,” the pulmonologist said. “But I don’t feel sick,” I said. For over 20 years, I have had a lung disease that slowly progressed over time in such a way that I could ignore the slow progression and attribute the symptoms to other things.

I started in February 2022. No more nighttime chips or nuts or those bags of chocolate chips I snuck from the pantry. No more ice cream. Much smaller portions. More fruit and even some veggies. Less pasta. No Friday pizza.

Maybe because I am getting older, the winters seem to stretch out as I wait for warmer temperatures and the green of leaves and grass. And somewhere in the back of my mind is the knowledge I have far fewer springs ahead of me than behind. Still, we now have our spring. And with the return of a warm sun and soft breezes, I have returned to my porch.

Scientists say human beings are the only Earthly lifeform to be fully aware of their mortality. We know from an early age that our earthly tenure is limited. There is no escape.

Even with modern medicine to supply a few repair parts for some breakdowns, too much of the internal plumbing isn't amenable to that. 

Ash Wednesday is one of the services in which I break down every year (All Saints’ Day is the other guaranteed tear jerker).