Hey! Those are pretty cool thoughts, Amos. You may be on the way to sagehood, old buddy...

But yeah, I'm simply too old for it now. The game is done. I shall have another glorious go at it in my next incarnation when I am once again young and spry, and once again full of hope and the spirit of adventure. ;-)

I've watched several generations of our dogs go through this metamorphosis from the hectic days of their youth, when they dared try anything, into the twilight of their life, when they settled for a modicum of comfort and survival. Why should I think I was the only one to avoid mortality and all its consequences?