Year-End Mort Musings… Rarely is “pensive” used as a descriptive for my 105-year-old Uncle Mort. In the hours unfolding from an old year to a new one, however, he grows silent. This is the claim of his bride, Maude, who repeated wedding vows with him 80-something years ago. And, when Maude makes a claim, it is a take-it-to-the-bank kind of truth.