[libstripper]

Surprise, kids! Up to about age 50 my friends or acquaintances who died mostly died accidental deaths, usually in car accidents. At age 76 I can say lines cross at about that age and more and more of those you know start dying of various illnesses. As of now, among others, I’ve lost three fraternity brothers I went to college with, one a year younger than me, another a year older, and the third my age. Then I look at the entertainers and politicians and those dying off are mostly in my age group. Enjoy your futures.

[Chickensoup]

a good friend of our family died of a myocardial infarct when we were in our late forties He was 54.

I looked at my husband and said, this is the beginning of the deaths ...

He looked at me and knew exactly what I meant.

[LibWhacker]

The high school I went to has an "in memorium" page online that keeps track of the students in my senior class who have died since graduation (1966). To date, it's 104 students out of approx 500. And of course, that's only the ones they know about; since graduating these students have moved all over the country (and the world) by now and lost touch with each other. No one knows how many have really passed on. But I'll bet it's significantly greater.

Is it shocking? Not very. If you don't expect it, your head must be in the clouds. What really does catch your attention is the increasing rate of death as the years pile up. A few years ago, maybe five or six were dying every year. Now it's more like 20.