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This appears to be the universal lament: "Why was I born, if it wasn't forever?" (Ionesco).

Do I wish I had never been born because I know that I am going to die one day? I have no regrets at all. I am grateful to my mother and father for having given me the gift of life. Of course, there are some days when I am nearly overcome by life's hardships and adversities, but having crossed over the half-century mark, I console myself in knowing that I don't have to suffer interminably. As a youth, I never derived any comfort in knowing that my life is finite; now I do.

The wish to live forever reflects the greediness inherent in the ego; it is the residue of childhood wherein the child desires to live into perpetuity. The ego knows no boundaries or limits. Ah, then, could the ego be God as reflected in the prism of time? Time distorts everything that passes through it; but perhaps there is a kernel of truth in the ego's longing to live forever. We do live forever but not in the form we hope to. God is the deathless and, as part of God, we do live on, as spirit.

winter walk
now I see my breath
now I don't