About six years ago, a close colleague and friend of mine roughly my age died from Hep C. We had taught in the same dept for years, gone to the same graduate school and shared a lot of ideas in common. It changed me. I had known of course, in the abstract, that death was always possible, but his death left an icon on my decisionmaking screen. I was more willing to spend money to satisfy some goal I had, and more likely to decide to do something sooner rather than later. My decision to retire early was probably effected by Dave's demise. I think that change was good. It would probably have happened anyway at some point, but his death was the catalyst.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13