It is good to have final words with those you care about. Heartfelt condolences and kind thoughts for you and yours.

I've reached a stage where there is only one who is not family left, and he's not a close friend -- just an acquaintance. Why did I make that distinction? Because even if he dies before I do, the pain will be the same. I've lost a few other 'acquaintances' over the past few years and I know now that this is true. The alternative to feeling such pain is to feel nothing, and that is a horrible thought.

So, I'm sorry for your loss, @Stevil but I'm relieved that you feel it. That pain is one of the things that makes the human species special. There are very few others on this planet who display that sort of connection. Our bond with others is real and it endures. The grief we feel for our friends/acquaintances, those we admire but never met, and especially our family members, is the most sincere tribute we can give any of them.

Never easy to lose those we cherish. Warm condolences to you ...

I am so sorry for your loss. Grieving is the price we pay for having wonderful people in our lives. Have an internet hug.

I have found that the greatest grief arises from selfishness. Firstly there is the grief arising from rarely having told our loved ones that we love them. Secondly that whilst they are living we rarely give them permission to die before us. Thirdly we rarely discuss and prioritise those things that will grieve us the most if we do not complete them before they die. If you have done these and cleared the bucket list there will be nothing to grieve because the deceased lives on in you and everyone else who they influenced. ... in other words party time and posthumously thank the dead for what they left.
I said goodbye to my family more than forty years ago. With one exception the few additional meetings, conversations and letters were merely bonuses on lives already spent doing what we wanted to achieve. The exception, my brother, was killed before we could achieve what should have occurred.

I understand, I've lost many friends in the last few years. I'm sorry for you loss.

So sorry for your loss! It's always hard to lose the people you love!

My father just passed this past Oct. Even when it's a complicated relationship it can be so difficult and, at least for me, reinforces my own sense of mortality. Hope you can work through this sufficiently.

i feel for you, Stevil. being left behind will always be harder to bear than leaving. ... & in a way, this is soothing to me.

It is hard watching the numbers grow as our friends pass. I’m so sorry for your loss. ????

It is sad. But, we have such great memories to replay at will.

So sorry for your loss. I'm sure he was a wonderful person in your life.

Oh, man. I'm so sorry @Stevil

sorry about the loss of your friend. It is the hardest part of this stage of life

Sorry for your loss.

I understand, I've lost many friends in the last few years. I'm sorry for your loss.

I'm sorry.

Sad is as we get older.... more and more often will happen. We can't stop it. It is part of the contract we are on. It will never be the same but realize that you are losing friends faster you can make new ones so... those departed never will be forgotten or their place filled by someone else but you need to make new friends. You have to live life for those that no longer can.

Awww....that's sad and it really sucks. I'm sorry.

Sorry for your loss, last year was a bad one for people I knew.
I think it is wonderful you got to catch up taht one last time.

So sorry to hear. I am glad you were able to see and speak with him before he passed.