I think I spend too much time these days brooding on death, not just my own but all the friends and acquaintances I've known. The 80s and 90s were bad because AIDS took so many young people, but now that I'm in my late 70s, friends in my age range are dying, and I spend too much time mourning the ones I loved. I asked my brother Randy a couple of years ago if he ever thought about death, and his answer was, All the time.