There is an upside to dying. It certainly concentrates the mind.

Telling my friends Rod and Chao the news was hard. Rod immediately rushed out of the room, returning with a three hundred dollar bottle of scotch. He poured me a shot, and said I should take the bottle home with me. I declined, telling him I’d return and drink it with him.

When their daughter, Kipling, joined us in the kitchen, she took one look at our faces and wanted to know that was going on. Kipling and I have been playing the fiddle together on occasion since she was seven, though she’s been concentrating on classical studies. She’s now twelve, and a very accomplished violinist
I’ve always been very careful not to pressure Kipling to play with me. She gets enough pressure from her parents. She’s a very reserved young lady, and I’ve never even been sure that she even likes me. But when she got the news she completely broke down. She came over to me and hugged me, sobbing. After she calmed down, we played “Calum’s Road” and the “Oopik Walts” together. I have decided that Kipling is next in line to own my Italian violin. The next day she ran in the Terry Fox run with “I’m running for Zale” on her shirt.

Rod asked me if I want to go to Scotland with him. He goes there frequently to visit their older daughter, Akela, who is studying medicine in Edinburgh.

So now we’re planning a trip to Scotland. Kipling and I are going to play “Calum’s Road” on https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/calums-roadCalum’s Road. I’m some kind of excited.