a tragic but inspiring story. Thank you for writing it out, that could not have been easy.

We all hope we won't end up alone when we get old, but there are plenty of us who live alone who aren't even middle-aged yet! I have a big enough group of friends, some of whom might wonder why I had not been in touch or returned their calls or email, but I am not in frequent touch with my family, and I wonder how many days it would be before someone noticed I was missing or incommunicado? I have six kitties; I hate to think they'd starve waiting for someone to discover me...I sometimes think about this stuff, especially before I am going to get on a plane. How would people contact my loved ones? Would they just get a hold of everyone in my address book?

This story underscores how important it is to maintain close relationships, even only a few of them, and to have seriosu ocnversations with people about what should be done if you were suddenly deceased or incapacitated...no one wants to think about dying. But it is going to happen to all of us. Having a few friends in their late 20s and early thirties die has made me think a great deal about this possibiity. The trick is to live life fully and contently and well, and not dwell on morbid thoughts. I get better at this every day, I hope.