Excerpt from "Man Overboard": "A friend told me recently
that you know you've reached middle age when your travel partners start
dying. "'Natural causes' is the key phrase," he said. "Listen
for that, and you'll know." I think he was referring to any
"cause" other than foreign taxis, air crashes, faulty climbing
gear, boating accidents, or street thugs. In short, he was excluding
situations in which we have a hand in the decision-making process. If there
is risk in what we do--and an active life always involves risk--then we have
the option of throttling back and living safe but dull lives, or we have the
option of embracing those risks and trying to manage them as best we can.
Perhaps that's why the phrase "natural causes" is so disturbing.
It describes a process over which we have no authority and less control. It
transforms death from an external variable into an internal eventuality in
which our own bodies turn traitor. To accept that process is the challenge
of middle age and, to my way of thinking, demands a spunky screw-it-all
attitude, as well as the same kind of emotional untethering that travel
itself requires.
"There's a lot to be said for just letting go. It
also helps to keep in mind that that bastard Grim Reaper is loose in the
room and moving targets are harder to hit."
