Morbidity

It's trite to say so, I guess, but death has a way of making one look around and savor the day a little more acutely. Who knows how long any of us actually has, anyway? Yesterday's news was the death of one of my wife's former partners. Today it was John Updike, my former brother-in-law's mother, and a not-so-close-but-I-knew-him-pretty-well acquaintance. Four for the reaper in less than 48 hours. My cousin's autopsy report was also delivered this week, as she passed away in December.

I've noticed how quickly people rush to qualify a death. "Oh really? Well, he had been sick for a while." "Well, she was old. She had lived a full life." Apparently there is a spectrum, and the sudden, unexpected death of a seemingly hale and hearty 30 or 40-something rates differently than death occasioned by a long illness or longevity. Once you've been diagnosed with a major disease or hit a certain age, your death is deemed -- in many circles, it seems -- to be "expected."

Does anyone else find this discomfiting?