Sudden Death

My insurance man died of a heart attack on Sunday. He was 63. Norman sold me and hundreds of other Vermonters long-term care insurance. He won't be needing it himself.

My thoughts often turn to Norman in this season of spring ephemerals--the wildflowers that bloom briefly in the woods. His birthday was May 1, as was my grandmother's. Perhaps this is one reason i felt so comfortable and at home with him when i met him 36 years ago. He hired me as the bookkeeper for the Putney Food Coop, which he co-managed.

Already, at age 28, he was a harbinger of The New Age: he had established and managed the first natural foods restaurant in Vermont--The Common Ground. Soon he would become the first massage therapist in southern Vermont--when "massage" was still code for sex, and before therapeutic massage had become commonplace.

By selling long-term care insurance and Medi-Gap insurance, he continued to serve his cohort group, the Baby-Boomers.

And now his death reminds us that, for some, the blooming ends suddenly, and life itself is ephemeral.