By Dan Rexford
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

“Whether it's the best of times or the worst of times, it's the only time we've got,” is one of Art Buchwald’s most quoted remarks.

Art Buchwald’s carpe diem spirit was in full throttle during his last major television interview with Retirement Living TV’s John Palmer.

In February 2006, Buchwald checked himself into a hospice. Defying medical explanation, in January 2007, he was back in his Washington, D.C., home talking about his new book, Too Soon To Say Goodbye.

Following are some excerpts from the interview:

“It got to be a whole experience to be in this hospice, in this big living room which they called, ‘Buchwald Salon.’”

“I received people there and we talked about everything…People don’t know what to say to you. I collected some: ‘You look great. You absolutely look great.’ Another one was, ‘I can’t stay too long, I have to do my taxes.’ And another one was, ‘Dying is easy, but I can’t get a parking space. That’s hard.’”

“I think the message of the book is ‘you do have to die and figure out a way of doing it with dignity and not have people that you leave behind feel terrible that they didn’t do anything for you or take care of you.’”

When Buchwald died, he had resumed writing his columns and was planning his next book.

Retirement Living’s television programs are shown on most of the eastern seaboard on Comcast channel CN8 and are available throughout the country on DirecTV’s channel 238.

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