One Change – Simple actions matter. » Enter to win a free signed Martin Brodeur jersey! Posted using ShareThis

Last night I wrote a bit about death. Things were fine then. It was all so abstract and remote. Then this morning at about 7:30 AM Suzy stepped into the shower and stepped out in excruciating pain. She hadn’t pulled a muscle or twisted. Something random had happened. And we spent the whole day in the critical care unit at the Ottawa General Hospital. For a while there this morning we were talking with doctors about colon cancer, heart attack, pulmonary embolism. We’re still not sure what it was. By this time tomorrow we’ll know if it’s shingles or a pinched nerve. Tonight I’m thinking: Maybe I should stop saying…

I think about death a lot. I don’t know why, really. Life is great. I’m still close to the median age, and I like how Canadian life expectancy is climbing at about the same pace that the earth circles the sun. It’s fair to say that I don’t want to die. My biggest fear is leaving my kids prematurely. I picture Jasper and Simon sad, lonely. Suzy would pause and move on. She’s like that. This summer I awoke with a start early one dewey Island morning in the loft at Walden and noticed a tuft of downy feather stuck to the skylight above my head. A bird had struck…