When most of your friends are gone

IF you live to be 60 or more years old most people you knew and loved in your life growing up will be gone. It just seems that the amount of people that you know that make it to about 70 diminishes on a sliding scale.

So, you will notice that by the time you are 50 it is likely that one of your parents, all of your grandparents, most of your aunts and uncles will be gone unless you are of people that live to 100 or something. So, it's not like you can really prepare for this except that just like all the weddings you tend to go to in your teens and 20s by the time you get into your 30s and 40s you start to have to go to a lot more funerals than weddings by this point. So, you are really really grateful anytime you have to go to a wedding because then you are saying "hello" to new life and not goodbye to someone you dearly love.

So, by the time you are in your 60s it is likely that both your parents are gone or soon will be, all your aunts and uncles are mostly done along with many of your cousins, brothers and sisters. Whether they pass away from ill health, suicide or homocide it really doesn't matter in a way because they are still gone and you have to deal with this.

Then on top of that I find that divorce is often like a funeral too both for parents and for kids. So, having survived 2 divorces myself I only really can speak to my first wife still because my 2nd wife and I don't speak ever even though we share a 25 year old daughter that I am very close to because she is just so much like me, my father and his sisters. So, it is always nice to have one person younger than you that really gets who you are because they are like you in understanding the world.

Since my wife had her knee replacement surgery I'm on first. What that means is I have to take charge more of everything while she recovers this year from the surgery. So, I find myself reaching out to my older two children to help stabilize me by talking to them and to old friends who are still going strong and a few relatives.

So, as people pass on in your life just remember they are on the other side helping your from there too. And for those left you can celebrate life with them still.

If you don't celebrate life with those still around you might not be around much longer either. So, it is always a choice.