an interview with maurice sendak - something that has stuck with me for a very long time

 An Illustrated Talk with Maurice Sendak, by The New York Times — featuring 2011 conversation with Terry Gross on Fresh Air.

“I’m not unhappy about becoming old, I’m not unhappy about what must be… 

“...I see my friends go before me, and life becomes empty. I don’t believe in an afterlife, but I fully expect to see my brother again… 

“But you know, there’s something I’m finding out as I’m aging: that I am in love with the world. As I look right now, as we speak together in my studio, I see my trees - my beautiful beautiful maples, that are hundreds of years old - that they’re beautiful! And you see, I can see how beautiful they are! I can take time to see how beautiful they are! It is a blessing to get old. It is a blessing to find the time to do the things, to read the books, to listen to the music– 

“You know, I don’t think I’m rationalizing anything [by being atheistic], I really don’t, since this is all inevitable. I have no control over it. I have nothing but praise, now, really! For my life, I’m not unhappy!

“...I cry a lot because I miss people. I cry a lot because they die and I can’t stop them. They leave me, and I love them more.

“But I have my young people here who are studying, and they look at me as somebody who knows everything! Oh, poor kids.

“Oh god, there are so many beautiful things in the world which I will have to leave when I die, but I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready.

“You know, I have to tell you something. You are the only person I have ever dealt with, in terms of being interviewed, or talking to, who brings this out in me…! There is something very unique and special in you which I so trust. But when I heard that you were going to interview me, that you wanted to, I was really really really… [interrupted]

“…I’m almost certain I’ll go before you go, so I won’t have to miss you…!

“I don’t know whether I’ll do another book or not. I might; doesn’t matter. I’m a happy old man. I will cry my way all the way to the grave.

“I wish you all good things. Live your life, live your life, live your life.”