Thank You Michael Ventura

Dear Michael Ventura,
   At age 67, your column really got to me, and by the time I finished, I was weeping like I haven't wept in decades ["Letters @ 3am," June 25]. I guess my emotional response was caused by the fact that I recognized everything you talked about, having gone through a lot of it myself. I suppose I was weeping for all those things I have said goodbye to, but which I had never seen enumerated quite like you did.
   I inherited a propensity for arthritis from my mother, and all my joints show it already, but, unfortunately I come from long-lived stock on both sides. My father died at nearly 99, just as his mother did; my mother died at 89. Their minds were clear right up to the end, but their bodies had given out long before.
   I now face the same prospect, and am determined not to go through what they did. I've always regretted the fact that human beings don't come equipped with a handy on/off switch. We should be able to call an end to it when we feel we've gone far enough. Don't know yet how I would do it, but it is something that is ever-present in my mind.
   Anyway, thank you very much for your piece. You gave voice to what goes through the minds of people in our age group. We just don't have the gift and the style you have to put it in words.