I just heard the second most depressing song in the world. (The first most depressing being the song Kilkelly, Ireland. That one always brings a tear to my eye.) It's called Gone Forever, a song about a father with Alzheimer's. I heard it performed on the radio by the duo Curtis and Loretta and just had to look for the lyrics on the web. Now you can hear it to and get depressed too. (Isn't that what the internet's all about: sharing?)

I don't know why the song touched me--my life's never been really touched by Alzheimer's. Sure, my grandfather got confused the last years of his life, but I was safely in Seattle by that time--sheltered from the sorrow of watching im slip away. Ah, who am I kidding. I'm obviously just reacting to the fact that my folks and other beloved elders are getting older and frailer. The obscenity of death and disease stealing the life of my heroes. It makes me wonder how folks who don't believe in life after death handle it. I think I'd get swallowed up in grief and despair.