Anecdote

[fj]

pinkfish and I were watching one those horrible Mars movies that all came out in the same year a few years ago, the one in which the computer-rendered alien was crying more convincingly than the actor who had to portray he just saw his wife die. So in the end one of the characters gets to sit in the alien spaceship that will take him To The Stars on a journey To The Advanced Aliens, and there was the question whether he was ready to give his whole life up for this leap.

I turned to Dean and said "I want you to know that I love you, but if the benevolent advanced aliens send me a one-seater spaceship to Explore The Universe In A Wondrous Faster-Than-Light journey, I'd leave you in a heartbeat." He didn't just answer that he understood, but indicated that I might want to make sure he didn't get to the ship first himself.