In Memoriam - Thoughts on Loss

 Earlier this week, I got word that a friend from my younger adult days had died. We had lost touch over the years because of distance, both geographical and philosophical. From the occasional pictures that would pop up on social media, I gather that she had been in poor health for some time.

Hearing about her passing got me to thinking of the times when I lived in closer proximity and would spend many an hour with her and husband at their house, talking, arguing, laughing. Sometimes it would just be the three of us (and their young daughter). Other times, there would be more people around.

She and I fell out over politics, a sadly all too common occurrence in this increasingly polarized nation in which we live. Both of us were guilty of not being able or perhaps willing to hear the other person or to try to learn why the other person held the views they held. None of that really matters now.

I can't say there is ever a good time to lose a loved one, but facing such loss as people head into the holiday season has to be especially difficult. I would imagine that the holidays would take on a different tenor because they would always be a reminder that a loved one is no longer here to share the togetherness that many of us practice and experience at this time of year.

As we age, loss becomes more commonplace and more inevitable. It is both a sad fact and a reminder of the circle of life. So celebrate the people around you while they are still around you. Recall fondly the people who have been a part of your journey through this life, regardless of the stage at which you and they shared the path.

Finally, I want to share some advice I've give out over the years after people have suffered a loss, whether it be a loved one or an old friend or a long time pet. I don't think I'm the only one to ever come up with it, but I've never heard it said, so perhaps I am. That advice is this: as long as that loved one, that friend, that pet lives on in your memory, they are never truly gone. And that is something worth giving thanks for. Happy Thanksgiving.