I'm hoping you know, outside of me telling you now, I'm a fan of your writing. I didn't expect to read about your wife's death when I clicked on this story of yours this morning.

I know you are still a young man compared to me at 65. My first husband died when I was 46, which to me at the time, felt quite young. Now it seems younger still but it also informs me of the road someone younger faces when they lose a beloved before they've had a chance to get to the point where they look around and notice their duration.

My husband died of cancer. That fucking sucked, just like deaths of loved ones usually suck no matter what the manner. About two years after he died I joined an online support group/message board for people who were widowed young.

It wasn't a typical thing for me to do but I used the platform to write about my loss. I thought I was being indulgent and I let it all fly. What surprised me was that other members started a conversation about their grief and it opened up this strange new world.

There I met women who were pregnant when their husbands died. One fellow I became good friends with in real life, lost his wife when she walked backwards and fell off a four storied building's roof.

Going forward from there I learned, solidly, that the hug of empathy goes a long way. Even though my new friends from the online group were usually younger than me I still found within each of them something so compelling and deep that lived within their losses. It joined us together even though years alive should have kept us apart.

I think I'm rambling. I'm sorry to learn of this facet of your life, not because I'm feeling sorry for you but because I get it. It's tough and it seems like you've gotten dealt this extraordinarily shit hand when you've already lived some extra shit that most of us haven't.

I still want to read what you have to say. No matter what it is, because, sir, you can write.

I'm hoping you can feel it burning like the hot coal that it is.

BTW, I remarried about 10 years ago. I don't know definitively, but it appears my current husband might be ill. It doesn't look too good but I still hope he'll be okay.

I guess I felt like I should share this awful truth with you because you've got mad experience .