‘I first read “Memento Mori” in high school. I think I reread it sometime in my late twenties and I just finished my third time around at age 50.’
Now I am sixty three finishing my fourth reading of this touchstone book. Now I am only a few years younger than the folks getting the telephone call for them to remember this must die. Recently, I have added a reflecting on dying as part of my daily practice and part of that includes a reading that takes me to the comfortable place of recognizing my mortality.
Frankly, I found the novel less profound this go round as I think that it loses steam as the plot machinations gain steam and barrel us towards the end and (spoiler alert!) pretty much everybody’s end. Last time I read the book I took a sanguine perspective about all the various reactions to receiving this reminder. This time I would like to think that the more I explore all aspects of the dying process and understand it as the next scary and exciting thing that will happen to me, the better off I will be. Despite this ‘hope’ I also must live fully in not knowing.
