Oh, loss is so hard. And, as a woman in her mid 60s, I can say it never gets easier to process.

I lost my father while very young in college - my 'dark room' was the music lab. I was taking a course in music appreciation and ONLY listening to homework - for tests, we had to be able to identify the work/composer/movement from a 30 sec snippet - helped me feel alive.

Then a partner of 5 years left me for my best friend and I plummeted again. This time, I became anorexic and an exercise fanatic. Again music....

NOW I know that when a blow comes - a divorce, my current partner's cancer - there's nothing that's gonna help but asking myself, "What can I learn from this?" and...yes, you guessed it, music, music, music.

Long comment. Sorry about that!