THE TIME HAS COME

The time has come for me to pack my bags and stumble into oblivion. At 87 my body is no longer my buddy. We used to go steady but there comes a time and the time is now. We are born and start dying with each passing day. Like machines, we wear out and we are all mortal.

I have been married to a wonderful woman for 64 years. Like most marriages, ours has had ups and downs, but oh those merry-go-rounds that kept us tied like magic glue. I look back with the one good eye I have left and memories wash over me -- children three, grand-children four and great-grand children two in the prime of their lives and life goes on. Marcia, we have done well to create such gems.

But I tire now and must finish this story. Old age is not golden but one still has memories. Pain has entered into every pore and refuses to leave despite my pleadings.

Shakespeare said it like it is in his famous, "All the world is a stage" and I quote his last few lines.

Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventual history,
is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

I have willed my body, to science. Hopefully they will accept this wreck. On with the scalpels and the drills. "Now students look closely as I expose the brain and .................

I am ready. Ta ta and all that. It's been nice talking to you.