I’ve either experienced or heard of quite a number of deaths this year. Ed left me. Two colleague’s parents passed away. Another colleague’s grandmother passed away. And because of the circumstances around Ed’s passing, I am just that more cognizant of suicides and everything suicide-related. Our lives have to go on, though, and we don’t have that much time to feel sorry for ourselves when death happens.

I asked my colleague how he and his family were doing in light of his mother’s passing. Although we aren’t close, it was good to hear him be open about how he felt and all the emotions that he’s been feeling over the last couple of weeks. As he was telling me about the moments leading up to her finally leaving their family, I could feel myself sensing my own inner pain at just hearing another person’s experience of losing someone special in their life. I’m not sure if he felt that I understood, but sadly, I understood exactly what he was talking about.