A Funeral Season

It seems like we've lost a share of people over the last few weeks.  Two friends have lost their mothers, another his wife, another his brother.  Their pain is shared by those who know them, friends who feel the tug of their loss, the falling away from the living.  It's a sense in keeping with my belief that we live in a kind of social fabric, woven together like threads in a greater cloth that is growing and wearing out as though it were a living skin, shedding and adding constantly as people come and go into our lives.  Some might say it's easier if the ties are thin, the threads few.  We would hurt less often.  But it seems to me that this flurry of losses is a reminder that we're blessed with many friends, much family, many ties.  With so rich a fabric, it's no wonder our losses come.  So do our additions.  Thank you, friends, for sharing with us.