He died on Thanksgiving Day

I didn't know the guy.  He was a VP at my company.   His department is on the same floor as mine, though, so I probably saw him around.  When I got to work this morning most of his department was waiting outside the building : the company hired cars to take them to the funeral.

He was 73 and about to retire.  He was a father and a grandfather.

Death comes in 3's, they say.  I paid a Shiva call on Wednesday because a friend's father died.   In synagogue on Saturday I ran into another friend who had just lost her mother in law.

And now this death.  The death of a stranger, actually.  Yet it hits me like a hammer.

I feel a sense of impending loss.  I look at my father, at his declining health, and I feel a gloom overtake me.

How much longer will he be among us,  I can't help but wonder.  Not that anyone is ever truly ready to say goodbye to a parent,  but I am not ready for this ...