The Art of Dying
December 18, 2019 9:10 PM Subscribe
I got the preliminary word from my doctor by phone while driving alone upstate from the city to join my wife, Brooke, at our country place. After the call, I found myself overwhelmed by the beauty of the passing late-August land. At mile eighty-one of the New York State Thruway, the gray silhouettes of the Catskills come into view, perfectly framed and proportioned. How many times had I seen and loved the sight? How many more times would I? I thought of Thomas Cole’s paintings, from another angle, of those very old, worn mountains, brooding on something until the extinction of matter.
I don't know that I'd ever read a piece in The New Yorker drunk before. Not bad!
posted by limeonaire at 9:56 PM on December 18, 2019
posted by limeonaire at 9:56 PM on December 18, 2019
Enjoyed what I was able to drunkenly read...!
Everybody who has ever lived has died. Never Forget
posted by Windopaene at 10:10 PM on December 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
Everybody who has ever lived has died. Never Forget
posted by Windopaene at 10:10 PM on December 18, 2019 [2 favorites]
> Everybody who has ever lived has died
You probably meant this to be comforting, but that kind of thought only fills me with horror on a cosmic scale.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 11:35 PM on December 18, 2019 [10 favorites]
You probably meant this to be comforting, but that kind of thought only fills me with horror on a cosmic scale.
posted by I-Write-Essays at 11:35 PM on December 18, 2019 [10 favorites]
The dead outnumber the living by 15 to 1
posted by catcafe at 11:43 PM on December 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by catcafe at 11:43 PM on December 18, 2019 [4 favorites]
Swatted a fly the other day and thought, Outlived you.
posted by From Bklyn at 1:59 AM on December 19, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by From Bklyn at 1:59 AM on December 19, 2019 [7 favorites]
"Death is a debt to Nature due Which we have paid and so must you.” ― Tombstone epitaph in Tatamagouche Nova Scotia
posted by thirdring at 4:41 AM on December 19, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by thirdring at 4:41 AM on December 19, 2019 [5 favorites]
This is great. Thank you, latkes.
posted by rmmcclay at 5:02 AM on December 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by rmmcclay at 5:02 AM on December 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
In my experience death is something that exclusively happens to other people.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:59 AM on December 19, 2019 [16 favorites]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:59 AM on December 19, 2019 [16 favorites]
Beautiful piece.
posted by sallybrown at 6:09 AM on December 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by sallybrown at 6:09 AM on December 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
Death takes all you’ve got and all you’d ever have.
posted by interogative mood at 6:19 AM on December 19, 2019
posted by interogative mood at 6:19 AM on December 19, 2019
The dead outnumber the living by 15 to 1
Derail, but this immediately made me think of the buzzing, clamoring voices, all speaking at once, that a machine made to contact the dead reveals in William Sloane's The Edge of Running Water.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:29 AM on December 19, 2019 [3 favorites]
Derail, but this immediately made me think of the buzzing, clamoring voices, all speaking at once, that a machine made to contact the dead reveals in William Sloane's The Edge of Running Water.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:29 AM on December 19, 2019 [3 favorites]
Death is a debt
I prefer to think of death as a gift we give to future generations. "Here is the space I take up, my place in the world. I hope they bring you good fortune."
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:47 AM on December 19, 2019 [17 favorites]
I prefer to think of death as a gift we give to future generations. "Here is the space I take up, my place in the world. I hope they bring you good fortune."
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:47 AM on December 19, 2019 [17 favorites]
Fucking cigarettes. I quit for 18 months once, and went right back to them. Then it was even harder to quit again. I've got almost two years without one now, and I don't consider myself out of the woods yet. I'm humbled by that first relapse experience.
posted by thelonius at 7:55 AM on December 19, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 7:55 AM on December 19, 2019 [3 favorites]
Yeah, tobacco is insidious. Booze was easier to give up.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:56 AM on December 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:56 AM on December 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
This makes me very sad to hear-- I like his writing a lot-- but was a ... pleasure? to read? Not exactly the right word. There are some punch-in-the-face thoughtful moments there. I'm... gonna sit here and look at a wall for a bit and think. Thanks? for this link.
posted by Capybara at 5:30 PM on December 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Capybara at 5:30 PM on December 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
Fucking cigarettes.
It's been 20+ years for me & I still want one sometimes. So far I've been able to resist even having a vape hit.
Fucking cigarettes.
posted by sneebler at 12:47 PM on December 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
It's been 20+ years for me & I still want one sometimes. So far I've been able to resist even having a vape hit.
Fucking cigarettes.
posted by sneebler at 12:47 PM on December 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
So far I've been able to resist even having a vape hit.
Good job! Don't. I tried e-cigs when I was trying to re-quit; l it just reminded me that I wanted the real thing. They have helped some people quit though.
posted by thelonius at 1:38 PM on December 20, 2019
Good job! Don't. I tried e-cigs when I was trying to re-quit; l it just reminded me that I wanted the real thing. They have helped some people quit though.
posted by thelonius at 1:38 PM on December 20, 2019
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posted by tuesdayschild at 9:55 PM on December 18, 2019