He was smiling and bubbling over.  He was a man I met in the aisle of the local supermarket.  I noticed he had a false leg but that did not deter him.  We had a brief conversation and I left him with a “God bless!”  And before that I told him he had a choice to feel sorry for himself or make the best of it.  I no longer remember my exact words.  I later saw him near the checkout counter.  Then I realized he had two artificial legs.  His smile never left him.  He brightened up my day.

No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try you are still going to displease your “other”.  Be aware you are going to fail.  Breakdowns in communication between couples, even to the best of us, happen all the time.

Do not get overly frustrated when that happens and make the best of it.  I keep quoting my doctor who responded to my comment, “My wife is driving me crazy.” by saying, ‘Don’t all wives do that?  Join the club!’

Scott Peck in one of his books states, ‘People get married for the friction.’  There is no other common institution like marriage to change us.

Each person is selfish.  Living with another forces you out of your comfort zone and makes you examine your behavior in a way you would not have to if you were living alone.

I have a friend who once told me, ‘Marriage is work.’  I laughed at him at the time.  I did not believe him.  I was single at the time.  I am no longer laughing at him.  He was right.

I really do not understand why your own death is so hard to contemplate.  At some point everyone knows that we will live not live forever but we act as if death is a failure and is a great thing that should not happen.

Just look at the reaction of the public when someone famous and young dies suddenly.  How could have this happened everyone wonders.  Yet we know we have no way to know the timing of our own death.  Sometimes it happens at the end of the struggle at the end of a long illness or simply due to old age:  our bodies just wore out.

Sometimes death occurs quickly and totally unexpected perhaps due to a accident or unexpected fatal occurrence.  No one wants to discuss their own impending death.  And even after it occurs others often act as if it was a great curse.

Death really makes your life much sweeter.  It forces you to consider your life choices more carefully.  Just think how horrible it would be if each person knew they would live forever.

The knowledge your life is finite forces you to consider carefully the steps and decisions you are going to make, the people you choose to spend time with, your career.  We only get one time around.

Death has become a great taboo and has become really impersonal.  Far more people today die in hospitals.  And when that occurs, the supporting staff just sweeps your body away as if you were never there.

No one wants to die alone.  The impersonal nature of death has led to the hospice movement which tries to restore dignity to your impending death.

It was not needed several decades ago when most people died at home usually surrounded by their loved ones.  No one wants to die alone.

Death is really natural.  It happens to every one.  The sooner you can realize that the more precious the time on this earth becomes.  This realization causes you to make your life more meaningful.  As I said earlier you only go around once, so make the best of it.