December 13, 2017:

Since then there've been so many.

Colleagues; relatives; your childhood best friend. Parents of girlfriends; university chums; elderly politicos. A growing army of ghosts.

Every age has its unique pain. In childhood, the pain of powerlessness. Adolescence, societal denial of sex. Middle age, defeat of dreams, settling for second best. Older age, deaths of more and more of those you love.