"I Never Realized Dying Was So Much Fun"

Even if you weren't an Art Buchwald reader, or even that familiar with him, there is something we can all learn from his death.

Last February doctors told him he had only a few weeks to live.

“I decided to move into a hospice and go quietly into the night,” he wrote three months later. “For reasons that even the doctors can’t explain, my kidneys kept working.”

Refusing dialysis, he continued to write his column, reflecting on his mortality while keeping his humor even as he lost a leg. He spent the summer on Martha’s Vineyard and published a book, Too Soon to Say Goodbye. He gave interviews and looked on as his life was celebrated.

“The French ambassador gave me the literary equivalent of the Legion of Honor,” he wrote. “The National Hospice Association made me man of the year. I never realized dying was so much fun.”

Last year, I saved an article about Buchwald's "extended curtain call" from People. It was the greatest article on how he was enjoying what turned out to be the last year of his life. I'd hoped to share it here, but I couldn't find it anywhere last night. I'll keep looking. For now, check this out: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5249437&ft=1&f=1003.