Death Comes in Three

    The saying goes that deaths come in three.   This morning I heard that a good friend of mine's grandmother died last night.  Tonight another friend called me choking back tears and close to sobbing and told me that his mother died today.  So if the saying is true, a mother, grandmother or father or grandfather of a friend of mine may die soon.  Or it could be that two more people may die because when I heard about my friend's grandmother's death, I thought she was the third death.  You see, my friend recently had 2 deaths of people at her workplace. And when she was telling me about those two recent deaths, I said to her at the time- you know, they say deaths come in three.  Then just a three days later, her grandmother passed.  So that should have been the 3 deaths of people in her workplace.  

   Now that my other friend's mother has died, I am now wondering if I should expect another death of someone close to me.  It could even be someone in my family.  My parents thankfully just drove back from a long road trip and managed to not get into a traffic accident.  We are reaching the time when we will soon have to revoke my Dad's or my Mom's licenses because they are getting too old to drive.  They are approaching 80 and my mother's reflexes are worse because she suffers terrible arthritis in her knees.  

   I have another friend who's mother is now 93 years old.  She could die any die just from old age.  I don't know what my friend will do when her mother dies.  She is an only child and her father died more than 7 years ago.  She will no longer have any family members alive.  It will practically kill her when her mother dies. 

   I am no good at dealing with deaths.  I don't really know anyone who is.  We as a society don't really know how to react when we hear someone has died.  Of course we express our sadness to the family of the deceased.  But since everyone handles death differently, there is no easy answer as to how one goes about helping someone who has lost a loved one.  

   I feel helpless to help my friends.  My friend's grandmother was 92 and was having serious health issues.  My friend said it was really a blessing that the woman finally is out of her pain and the pain she was causing others with her rapidly advancing dementia.  But my other friend, his mother had just turned 60 and tomorrow is his father's 60th birthday and my friend celebrated his 32nd birthday just last Friday.  So instead of the family gathering to celebrate birthdays, they will instead be mourning the death of the matriarch of the family this weekend.  

   I am a little worried about who may be calling me tomorrow to tell me of a death in their family.  It has been a very sad few days as people around me have been dealing with family tragedies.  I hope that saying about deaths in 3 are not true.