— Ninety-four-year-old Edwina on Dying, From “30 Lessons for Living” P. 143

It has made me realize that there’s always that question of why nobody knows where we go. Well, there must be a reason for that. We’ll never know because that’s a mystery. I know about as much about it as the most learned men in the world, I would imagine. Because nobody really knows what happens to you.

But I am very comfortable. I am not afraid to die. Being near to death impacted me greatly, to be honest, and I don’t talk about it. It’s something that’s very personal. But I’m a better person for it. I do wonder — I think God must be saving me for something and I can’t figure out what it is. Maybe I’ll know someday when I’m 110.

But about dying, I’m not one bit afraid. Well, if you stop to think about it, it’s a natural thing. Everything dies. Whether we come back or not or what happens there, I don’t know. But it’s like my husband used to say whenever we discussed it: ‘If you go to heaven, how wonderful. But if you go to sleep, what’s wrong with that?’