There are two scenarios when close to dying, as a nurse told me when my mom passed away at age 88 from sudden pneumonia. There are people who repeatedly get sick and go to the hospital. They are called “frequent flyers”.

Then there are people who are healthy and then suddenly become ill and die. That is called” falling off a cliff”. I hope I get the second scenario when my time is up.

Old joke:

Three old men at a nursing home are complaining about the various indignities that come with getting old.

“Turning 70 really sucks,” says the youngest of the three. “All of a sudden I can’t pee when I want and they tell me I might need prostate surgery if I ever want to pee freely again.”

“That’s nothing,” says the next oldest. “Once I turned 80 I discovered I was constipated all the time regardless of what I ate. These days, it takes an official act of Congress just to have a bowel movement.”

“Man, you wimps have it easy,” says the oldest of the three. “Once I hit 90 I started peeing every day at 5:00 A.M. and pooping at 6:00 A.M., as regular as clockwork.”

The other two men looked at him in confusion and finally asked, “What’s so bad about peeing every morning at 5:00 and pooping at 6:00?”

The oldest man just grinned ruefully and said, “I don’t wake up until 7:00.”