Growing up, we used to go see my paternal grandmother every year in the Summer and again on Thanksgiving, and she came to our house for Christmas. When we would say, "Bye Grandma, we love you, see you [at Thanksgiving/Christmas/next Summer]" she would smile and say, "Oh, I'll probably be dead by then." It was generally proof that she felt healthy. She lived to 93.
So I hear you on the death superstition being the opposite of what it seems.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*