It is always a shock when somebody you know passes away. In 1983, I had a nephew who drowned in a swimming pool. But that day he was being watched by his coked-up mother at some other guys house. He fell in, she panicked and ran next door to call the ambulance. She then went back to the pool, jumped in and got him out. By the time he arrived at the hospital he was gone. He was not even 3 years old. On the other end of the spectrum, there is old age. It is something different, to me, when someone who is along in years passes away. My grandparents lived long lives, all four of them. Their lives were by no means easy, but in reality, who's life is easy... really? I often talked with my grandmother and she was always brutally honest with me. One day she told me that getting old is no fun. She talked about the many reasons why, but her main reason, I gathered, for saying such a thing was when she told me about how the older you get the more you get the chance to see all your friends die. To me, that was the key statement. It solidified for me that for all of us... there is no possible way out. It sold me on the reality that there needs to be one important thing in life. We all need "one thing" to keep us coming back for more. For some, it's faith. For other folks it's music that keeps them wanting to wake in the morning. Other people may find their work to be enough motivation to keep moving forward. I know the feelings associated with not having that "one thing" to look forward to in the morning. I know and understand the emptiness that comes with that mentality. It gets particularly tough when one is witnessing the decline of ones own parent(s) with absolutely nothing coming from anybody else in the family. It is almost as if our childhoods and the hard work our folks did all along the way to keep things somewhat together... were not good enough. I truly have to say that there is indeed Nothing particularly special about getting old. Grandma..... I know you're playing golf right now and are walking great!