They come in threes

Monday, three people who in some way touched my life did so once again in the most profound way possible. They died.

Actually, they did not all die on the same day, but I found out about their deaths within 6 hours on Monday afternoon.

First up was a seasoned stand-up, a regular on late night shows, sometimes actor and all around good guy. I had the privilege of dining with him in 1990 in Chicago and getting to ride in his limo. He was kind and attentive, listening to me ramble on about emergency rooms and the general state of medical care. He encouraged me to create stand-up bits out of my own experiences, something I was never able to do. Mostly because I never thought I or my experiences were funny. Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome your headliner tonight, Richard Jeni!

A few hours later I was shocked to learn that the sandwich guy at work, Chef Johnny, found out he had liver cancer and promptly died 8 days later. He was an energetic man with a fondness for the ladies, unless he was in a cranky mood in which case he had a fondness for no one. He used to make me a special turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce until they stopped carrying cranberries. Bon Appetit, Chef.

Finally, at the end of the day I learned that Karen was gone. She was the wife of the guy who directed Brother Bear and animated most of the Disney movies you know. The recent ones, he's young. He and his wife shared among other things long blonde hair. I always loved that. And when she lost hers from the chemo, he shaved his head in solidarity. She was a beautiful soul. The sort of person you instantly feel comfortable with and the sort of person that inspired you to be better. I will always regret not going to see her in the hospital. I think I was hoping she would just get better and I would see her at parties as I always did. The world just seems a little more harsh.

We are born and we die and in between are good times and bad times. Hopefully, more good. And those are the ones we try to remember. Those are the ones we hope others will remember about us. I have a lot of remembering to do.