You have to sort of prepare lose everyone older than you eventually, then some of the people your age and younger.
For example, of 3 best friends from childhood to age 21 2 of them are dead in my life.
My first death was my 16 year old male cousin of a car accident when I was 8 in 1956.
The 2nd death I dealt with was my first Grandparent from Scotland in 1960. This wasn't too hard because he had lost his father at age 8 and was jealous of my good life and didn't treat me very well. So, it wasn't that hard to lose him because he likely was senile so my first memory of him was him beating me for no reason within an inch of my young life at age 5 so basically I had PTSD from being beaten for no reason at all by him at 5 when I first met him.
My third death was my other Grandfather in 1970 when he drove his panel Truck off a mountain road in Idaho because the rear wheel bearing froze and went into a river with his panel (Van) truck.
My 4th death was his wife a couple of years later, my father's mother.
My 5h death was my other grandmother who lived until 90 and was born in 1888 in 1978. This was the hardest death for me to take other than my 16 year old cousin when I was 8 which was the first death I had ti endure and live through.
After this all kinds of people started dying that I knew from then on.
My Father died in 1985 in August.
by 1990 all my grandparents and most uncles and aunts had died.
By 2001 my cousins started dying who were 5 plus years older than me.
In the 1970s several climbing friends had died from climbing accidents and other accidents. One of my best friends from church died in 2006.
My best friend from Junior High and High school died in 2011 and I couldn't speak for at least a day I was so upset because of the way he died and that he was dead and I could do nothing to save him.
In 2008 both my mother and my wife's father died and I wondered what God did that to us?
But, in some ways we were able to help each other more through these times as a result.
By the time I had lost my mother and my wife's father I was sort of relieved that most of the people (except my high school friend in 2011) had died for awhile. So, I was really grateful to have a break from all the deaths of the 1980s and 1990s.
Since 2011 it hasn't been as bad even though my wife's stepfather passed away in 2017 I believe or 2018 at age 98. But, he had had such a long and good life and passed away in his sleep that he had what is called: "A King's Death" so to speak where he just went to sleep and it was over easily for him.
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