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Death
Sunbeams
May 1998When Pablo Casals reached ninety-five, a young reporter asked him a question: “Mr. Casals, you are ninety-five and the greatest cellist who ever lived. Why do you still practice six hours a day?” Casals answered, “Because I think I’m making progress.”
Exchange Students
The sound of him, like all the pain a person could possibly hold, saved up over a lifetime, rose up the face of the cliff and seemed to blow and fade through the tops of the pines and dash through the surrounding hills like a quick-moving storm.
May 1998Fifty-Two
At forty, you may have half your life in front of you; at fifty-two, it’s not likely. In your thirties you may worry about losing your looks; in your fifties you worry about losing your capacities.
May 1998Sunbeams
April 1998Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.
In Light Of Death
An Interview With Rick Fields On Living With Cancer
My attitude is “I’m going to live until I die,” which is all anyone can do. I don’t see the value of having someone say, “You have four months to live.”And I don’t want to give that much weight to any one person’s opinion, whether they’re a seemingly enlightened, spiritual person or a super Ph.D. or an M.D. — fortunetelling has never interested me.
April 1998The Laundromat
Stolen clothes, a miniature copy of The Night before Christmas, a red halter top
March 1998
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