"Hold Death awhile at arm's end." (As You Like It)

.....Yesterday with nothing much else to do while RH+ went lunching with her sister and sister-in-law I joined a neighbor, his wife & friend and drove to the Isle Casino in Pompano.  I can't tell why, but I've always been fascinated by slot machines--perhaps because of the sounds that they make; something akin to the sounds of the Sirens that Ulysses heard in Homer's "Odyssey"; the three goddesses that lured sailors to their death with the sound of their voices; they just suck you in--or for a better word, "sucker" you in.  I managed to lose.  But the entertainment and the expectation of hitting a jackpot was worth it, I suppose.  I keep telling myself that.  I hit a jackpot once; in Las Vegas.  It was about 1a.m. and Rho had gone up to bed.  After awhile, I decided to follow her, but not before playing a $5 slot for the first time in my life.  I put $5 in and lo and behold! The three wheels came up with the three red 7s--the $5000 jackpot!  But don't go away; I haven't ended the story.  Since I only put in $5 instead of three times that amount, I did not collect the jackpot.  I told Rhoda that story and she sent me back down to try again.  I won $500 and went to bed not knowing whether to be happy or benighted.


.....Speaking of the Sirens luring sailors to their deaths, on the way home from the casino, Lou asked me if I ever think about "mortality".  "Do you mean do I think about death and dying?"  "Yes," he said, and I replied, "Yes, at my age, of course I do--almost every day."  Am I in fear of it? No, I'm not. I am too busy enjoying the life I am leading now, and proud of the life behind me.  When it comes, it comes, and I can't do anything about it. As Hamlet says, 'the rest is silence'." 

.....Perhaps it not so bad to die at an advanced enough age, for people who live long enough may be ground down by life until they give up many of their goals.  Also they will have attained many of their aspirations.  If truly satisfied with having lived a full life, or we have given up because of ill health, or we lose our motivation for living, death ceases to be objectionable to us.  Perhaps death is bad for us only if premature in the sense that it comes when we still have interests or desires that propel us forward in life, and only if achieving them is a real prospect. We leave that to the young.  If we die and go to heaven, I suppose we've hit the jackpot--provided that we have put enough cash into life's casino.