I was never a "Friends" fan, but yea, when a fellow GenXer passes (be it a celebrity or someone I knew personally), it really drives home the 'life is too short' thing.
Great, thoughtful post. I hated ‘Friends’ when it was first released, but got into it a bit as an American abroad. It was his age that got me, too - he was less than a month older than me (which, frankly, surprised me as I never joined the dots). I don’t like it when (let’s be honest - most) people die - but particularly when it’s my generation and one who’s so close in age.
The village of voices that have raised and nurtured our being never leaves us. They are so intrinsically tied to us, so deeply internalized, that they become the many selves that make us who we are.
Now I want to read his autobiography. Thank you for this post. I've had the great good fortune of having roughly 75,000 words of letter writing between my late mother and myself and hearing her voice in them is immeasurable--it was another loss just to come to the end of transcribing them. I doubt that anyone would read the years of my journal entries. But letters--sent through the mail especially--those can be cherished.
I was never a "Friends" fan, but yea, when a fellow GenXer passes (be it a celebrity or someone I knew personally), it really drives home the 'life is too short' thing.
Indeed
The relief I’ve felt when a relative with dementia dies - guilty, but also, it’s better. Doesn’t make it less sad, but it helps.
Great, thoughtful post. I hated ‘Friends’ when it was first released, but got into it a bit as an American abroad. It was his age that got me, too - he was less than a month older than me (which, frankly, surprised me as I never joined the dots). I don’t like it when (let’s be honest - most) people die - but particularly when it’s my generation and one who’s so close in age.
His age certainly made me pay attention.
I am reminded of Erving Goffman’s Presentation of the Self. We are all actors upon a stage, and have a role (many roles)to play, as Shakespeare said.
The village of voices that have raised and nurtured our being never leaves us. They are so intrinsically tied to us, so deeply internalized, that they become the many selves that make us who we are.
Now I want to read his autobiography. Thank you for this post. I've had the great good fortune of having roughly 75,000 words of letter writing between my late mother and myself and hearing her voice in them is immeasurable--it was another loss just to come to the end of transcribing them. I doubt that anyone would read the years of my journal entries. But letters--sent through the mail especially--those can be cherished.
I loved Matthew Perry's autobiography--it was so raw and generous. In fact, I might go so far as to say that I liked it MORE than Friends!