When my brother David suddenly died of cardiac failure my perspectives on life changed dramatically Dave was the fourth of seven children but he was the first of us to pass mdash and the unexpected nature of that passing gave me much to ponder It became apparent that as age began to catch up with us our family rsquo s future was going to be marked more by loss than by gain It was going to be characterized as much by goodbyes as hellos None of this was a surprise intellectually mdash that is just how life works But this
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