Like Big Tex, it never dawned on me that I would really have to die some day until I was in my late twenties. I was raised in witness too, and we were supposed to be in the new system by now!
It is wierd, but I never started to fear dying until I had my second child. All of a sudden, I had developed a sense of mortality. It could because I had a lovely seizure right after I had her, lovely blood loss...shaking...quite fun...I remember feeling it coming on, and handing the baby to my husband, and telling him that I loved him. Then the shaking.......eeeeekkkkk!!! It was scarey...the only real moment I have ever had when I thought I was going to die!
It is because I don't want to leave my children motherless, or my husband a widowere. Oh, he would get on after a while without me. But, you can never replace someone's mom. I lost my own father at 19, and even though I was a young adult, I wasn't done needing him. My kids would get over it, but still....
I sometimes wish the concept of going to heaven is true...or just that dying really means going on to some other type of life...but I dunno.
The one thing that realizing that I will have to die someday, is to make me realize this:
LIVE THE BEST LIFE YOU CAN!!!
My greatest fear about knowing I am about to die, and having a lot of regrets about bad choices, or not doing things I should have, or not being able to honestly say I gave my children a happy childhood and was always there for them.