I think by now I would be long gone if it weren't for modern medicine, but I would have made it to, oh, about fifty. I remember once a dentist telling me I had a wisdom tooth with a real short root, and it was probably due to it abscessing when I was younger, probably around eighteen, but my body just fought it back. Of course when you're eighteen you're practically bullet-proof. Think of all the young men who were wounded in wartime and healed up on their own.

PS I love that picture.
Roy | Homepage | 05.18.08 - 5:33 pm | #

The viking way would probably be illegal, or the coast guard would save you. We have learned too much and not enough. They (the ambiguous they) are beginning to believe now what I have long expected, that Alzheimer's is not some mysterious disease as much as just what happens to the brain after so many years of thinking great thoughts. The quality of those years and some other factors may determine who and when, but basically, it is just the brain dying. Maybe. And in another 100 years, they'll figure it out all over again. I just hope by that time our expected life span isn't 120 years. I don't mean to sound negative -- sue me -- but I've met a whole bunch of 100 year olds, and not one of them was hoping for another five, let alone 20 years of life as a 100-something. They've all been graciously awaiting what's next. A fair lesson for those of us who value life at any cost.
judybluesky | Homepage | 05.18.08 - 5:39 pm | #

Think of all the young men who were wounded in wartime and healed up on their own.

Right. All else equal, the body does a pretty good job of healing itself, given enough time.

I love that photo to. It simultaneously warms and breaks my heart.
asha | Homepage | 05.18.08 - 7:31 pm | #

and not one of them was hoping for another five, let alone 20 years of life as a 100-something.

Lee can't wait to migrate to the machine and keeps telling me how neat that will be. Sounds like hell to me. He can live in the damn machine and dream that he's flying to the moon or whatever other damn thing he wants. I'll put him on a loop and wear him on a necklace.
asha | Homepage | 05.18.08 - 7:37 pm | #

M. Lee isn't 100 yet. He's just a young'un. Time will wear him down, I'm guessing.
judybluesky | Homepage | 05.18.08 - 9:11 pm | #

I'm guessing.

You'd think.
asha | Homepage | 05.19.08 - 8:46 am | #