The last song you hear

Any moment that Gene Wilder died was going to feel like it came too soon. Still, I find this comforting:

As our hands clutched and he performed one last breath the music speaker, which was set to random, began to blare out one of his favorites: Ella Fitzgerald. ... She was singing “Somewhere over the Rainbow” as he was taken away.

Not everybody gets to go out while hearing one of their favorite songs.

What's the song you'd like playing in the background when you die?

Too late

Last night I rambled on about how I wrote "Everybody Knows About Me" after reading about the life of Joseph D. Greene. I told that story because it's a good story, but also because I wanted to thank him. He never knew that his book had influenced me in any way. I figured I'd drop him a line and give him the link.

I'd thought about doing something like this for years. I didn't before because I wanted to have something impressive to show him. Writing the song didn't seem like enough. Recording the song and releasing it during ME/CFS Awareness Week didn't seem like enough. Once the ME/CFS video featuring the song went live, though, I decided it was time.

You know where this is going, right? Yeah. In the search for his contact info, I found out that he'd died over two years ago.

Here's the obit.

I was stupid. All my reasons for waiting were stupid. I know as well as anybody that when you create something, anything, what you want to hear most is that it connected with somebody. He wouldn't have shrugged off the acknowledgment because I hadn't accomplished enough yet.

Next time I need to thank someone for nudging my life in a better direction, remind me not to wait.