Nearing the Eve of a Thirteen

Tonight, I received three text messages on my cell. In the darkness and privacy of my parked car, my vision blurred as I attempted to read the words. The icy fingers of grief grabbed me by the pulse of my throat and temporarily threw me into the familiar and shadowy corner of hell; the swirling gray mass of despair that shrouds my being. I learned tonight that a friend of the family died tonight from cancer. And my sadness is exacerbated by the fact that this loss is yet another reminder of the loss of my mother; and the fact that we are nearing the eve of a thirteen. My heart goes out to my friend, his wife (now widowed) and his family. My heart breaks for all of us.