Or perhaps, when people your age pass. What do you do?

I work in a specialty university library. One of the students in our program had a severe accident recently, and he has been on my mind a great deal. He was my age, a 12 year Marine vet with multiple tours. Married with a beautiful toddler and newborn. Getting his education. The world promised him nothing but joy and success going forward. And now he is gone and his wife has to pick up the remaining pieces of her life and move forward. I don’t know how you do that. My heart breaks for her and there is no way to extend her comfort.

But then you find yourself, or at least I do, wondering how I would face that situation. And how I would comfort a patient’s spouse who had just lost the love of their life. How do I do that? But this I know, nothing can be a more stark reminder to go home and kiss my husband and pet my dog, remembering how beautiful my life is at the moment.