I read an article today about a comedian I never really cared for while he was alive but I discovered some weird similarities in his life and mine. Garry Shandling died at I think 66 in 2016 of a heart attack. He looked at life very differently than a lot of people did and near the end of his life, he had a habit of just walking away from things he was quite good at if he lost interest. That's the thing that had me reading further to see if we had any other similarities cause God knows most people find something they're good at and then wear it out fearing there might not be anything else left in the tank.
He died at 66 and I'm 64. His last serious girlfriend told of him taking Excedrin every day for the last 5 years of his life would make swiss cheese out of his liver. I've taken Excedrin every day of my life for about the past 30 years. When you have an auto-immune disease that causes you to experience unbearable pain every day, you take what you need to and we sure had that in common. He had thyroid issues that increase your risk of a heart attack, and I have thyroid issues. He ended up walking away from lucrative work opportunities because he would get tired of doing the same shit every day. I can't even begin to count how many times I've done that but many is as close as I can get.
When Garry died he left almost all his modest millions to a charity hospital. For those few who might have hoped otherwise, I too am leaving what's left to St Judes Children's Research Hospital and Shriners Hospital for Children. The similarities from personality to work to health issues are wildly similar to my own and I have felt and said this a few times that if I were to live another 5 years from now no one will be more surprised than me. Garry was cremated and his ashes were given to a friend or family they aren't sure. I've put in my will and paid for my own cremation and having no more family left, just dig the hole next to my mom that is already designated for me and drop my mess in there and be done with it. None of this ceremonial nonsense where people have to make the decision to either go bowling or spend an hour next to my mess when they weren't there for my life in the first place. So no worries that I would want to ruin anyone's afternoon to have to come and pretend to give a shit when I'm finally stuffed in a bottle.
The final oddity is how I never cared much about Shandling when he was alive and how little I care for myself these days now that mom has passed away so the end of our lives will likely be similar as well, alone, heart attack, and dropped in the ground to be forgotten. When God decides I've had enough here on earth, sometime after seeing my mom again and meeting my grandfather and my uncle Dub, I want to meet up with Garry and talk for a while. We'll have a few laughs and trade a few lies.
Awesome, great blog! thank you
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