You don’t see it coming until it’s here. The day you realize that you’re not going to be arranging any more funerals. You’re the one who’s next. It may not — you hope and believe — be for years. Decades! But it’s coming. And it’s coming for you.

You see the fading memories of the ones who went before you differently in that light. When you realize you’re the only person left who remembers the things you experienced together. And when you’re gone, that’s it. Those events never happened. At least, not to anyone who is still alive to care about them.

And what did your time amount to, anyway? What impact have you left on the world, and is it a good one? Bad? Or, most likely, utterly inconsequential. You never existed.

Maybe it’s melodramatic. But that doesn’t mean it’s not true. So if all that matters is the moment, while you’re in it… how are you going to live it?