The Time of Your Life

The story features Death, the younger sister of Sandman, but only in a supporting role. The main characters are lesbian (still in the closet) singer/songwriter Foxglove), her lover Hazel and the story is about their troubled relationship and what happens when first Hazel's son Alvie get sick and then Foxglove's manager dies of a heart attack. Beautifully done and a very nice reading experience.

Written by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Chris Bachalo and Mark Buckingham.

Set in 1939 in a San Francisco waterfront bar frequented by a collection of lovable eccentrics, Saroyan's whimsical ode to ordinary people and the simple values of life has made this enduring and endearing comedy an American classic.

The following is a quote from the play that has been meaningful to me over many years.

"In the time of your life, live -- so that in that good time there shall be no ugliness or death for yourself or for any life your life touches. Seek goodness everywhere, and when it is found, bring it out of its hiding-place and let it be free and unashamed. Place in matter and in flesh the least of values, for these are the things that hold death and must pass away. Discover in all things that which shines and is beyond corruption. Encourage virtue in whatever heart it may have been driven into secrecy and sorrow by the shame and terror of the world. Be the inferior of no man, nor of any man be the superior. Remember that every man is a variation of yourself. No man's guilt is not yours, nor is any man's innocence a thing apart. Despise evil and ungodliness, but not men of ungodliness or evil. These, understand. Have no shame in being kindly and gentle, but if the time comes in the time of your life to kill, kill and have no regret. In the time of you live, live -- so that in that time wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite delight and mystery of it."