“The worst thing about getting old is all your friends die.”

“The worst thing about getting old is all your friends die.”
 
My grandmother told me that years ago. Last week, my mother said the same thing.
 
They both sounded achingly sad when they said it. I felt terribly sad hearing it, and the sadness remains any time I think about them saying it.
 
It has me thinking about times in our lives when we experience great loss, and, worse, when the world seems to spiraling in on us, diminishing, and taking us with it.
 
Sometimes people other than those getting old are assailed by this feeling. People living surrounded by war, such as during our American Revolution and the many other wars in the past and ongoing, must have felt and feel a similar spiral.
 
May we reach out to those alive today who may be experiencing this spiral.