Sunshine on my Shoulders

I wrote that because that's what it's doing outside right now to the tune of about 70 degrees or so, phenomenal beginning to our Spring. But of course, what it makes me think of is John Denver (53) and the fact that he died in October of 1997 when his experiemental plane called a Long EZ crashed in the Pacific Ocean, almost 13 years ago. Holy Cow where does the time go?

And I come home today to Breaking News that Robert Culp of "I Spy" television fame died today from falling down on the sidewalk in front of his house. You have to watch those sidewalks, they can reach up and grab you when you aren't looking. Seriously he was 79 years old and probably not thinking this was going to be his last day on earth when he walked out the front door.

Kind of eerie when you think about it that way. Do you think people, famous or infamous, would act differently on their last day if they knew in advance it was going to be their last day. Kind of like "Meet Joe Black" where Anthony Hopkins is negotiating with Brad Pitt (Death) through the entire movie for more time before he is finally taken. Even though you have two hours to prepare you I still get teary at the end. Silly.

Just thinking though, at age 31 Rudolph Valentino came down with appendicitis and gastric ulcers, even though they operated on him he then developed peritonitis, they still thought they had him on the mend when he was so weakened he developed pleuritis in his left lung and subsequently died. Women were hysterical, clearly he went before his time. If he'd known this would be the result might he have lived his life differently in the months prior to his death?

Both Sonny Bono (62) and Natasha Richardson (45) went skiing one day, separate days, separate places and by the end of the day they were dead both from hitting trees. How bizarre is that? So, would they have taken different ski runs if they had known that was going to be the result?

Jim Henson (53) was a classic case I refer to frequently when people who are ill aren't taking care of themselves. He was sick, didn't do anything about it for way too long, went to the hospital, was diagnosed with pneumonia and died a few days later of a severe strep infection. I'll bet if he had it to do over again he'd be hotfooting it to the doctor insisting they figure out what was going on the first week he was sick.

Do you suppose it is statistically significant that 2 out of 5 of these men who died unexpectedly, did so at age 53?