Bryan died yesterday evening. His wife said he was going into hospice when she emailed me a couple days ago. Apparently, I'm the only one who thought this, but I thought hospice care lasted a long time, like it did for
Jimmy Carter. So, it was a shock to get the email about his death this afternoon.
I never wrote the email I planned to write to him, thinking I should take time to chew it over this Sunday. The next time I hear about someone going into hospice, I'll write immediately. Though in this case, even if I did write in time, I'm not sure he would have been reading emails.
After being astounded for a while, I got up and made bean burritos, which is what I feel he would have done. They did turn out well, as they would have turned out for him.
I proceeded with the rest of the day, and I appreciated it. Eating dinner with all the guys including Smidgeo, taking the guy to judo, working on footsweeps with him after, learning from Katt what "going to hospice" means and talking about sudden deaths, and having a seltzer. All of it was good.
I hope (and think) Bryan got in plenty of good food, interesting movies, and great writing that I bet we'll never see.
Anyone — especially people in middle age and beyond — can die at any moment. I have no idea if it's useful to bring this up or to keep it in mind, but it is true.