The past two years I have played poker with a guy known as "Old Jim". I have been told that his age was in the 90's, but he could have been younger than that. He was a smoker and had a lot of trouble breathing, plus he was rapidly losing weight and becoming bent over almost double. Once he dropped some poker chips on the floor and could not pick them up. He was very frail and seemed to have lost weight every time I saw him. Anyway, Old Jim was a great poker player. He played in tournaments almost daily and did very well, winning lots of them. "White Hands" Rick told me that his wife gave him a monthly poker allowance of $400, but I suspect that he did not spend much of it given his winning ways.
Once a month there is a "Tournament of Champions" at the casino. Anywhere from 80 to 160 players qualify each month by winning one of the daily tournaments (there are several tournaments each day). Old Jim of course qualified and he won the championship on Sunday. I think it was his first TOC victory. The next day he passed away quietly in his sleep. I like to think that it was a perfect finish to his life, as he loved the game and his success is now commemorated on the "wall of fame" with an engraved nameplate and a picture of him holding his winning cards.
So, anyway, I think that loving something and reaching the top on your last day on earth is not a bad way to go.
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