Glad to hear your MIL pulled through.
Yeah, it's all downhill 😃 That's not to be negative, just realistic. We will all die, and we will witness our folks decline and die, and some of our friends will die before us. One of the big differences I notice between a lot of the primarily Buddhist attitude here vs a lot of the Western attitude (which kind of covers the range between atheist and Christian, usually) of people I know visiting here or that I hear from back home, is that the former generally always is aware that time is ticking and things are changing and the end is approaching, whereas the latter tries to ignore these facts, which I think makes it more shocking and painful when those cracks you mention do appear. As I'm sure you've seen in the Japanese poetry I post, awareness of the impermanence and shortness of life is always at the forefront of everything.
Anyway. A buddy of mine about a year younger than me died last year suddenly in his sleep. I may have mentioned him to you. Later the autopsy showed some heart defect. That in mind I suppose we are lucky he lasted as long as he did. He drank too much moonshine and ate too much junk food, but was otherwise active, so it took all of us by surprise.
Another person I went to high school with (in my same class) also died recently. I wasn't close enough to ask the family how he died and they didn't post any details on FB. I do know he was having health problems, but nothing beyond that. I know someone else is in the hospital a lot and always posting about her problems, but hopefully she can pull through.
My uncle dying last year was much more shocking to me than either of my peers. He had been relatively healthy. Only in his 60s. But he had a stroke. Then his wife wasn't able to help him move around as well as she thought she would be able to, so she dropped him a few times and he hit his head more. More strokes. Shortly after he was dead. A few years before my youngest uncle, only in his early 60s, died suddenly in his sleep from a panic attack.
I don't know. I guess we are at the age when we just have to get used to these things happening. I look at the good. All these people I know who died had full lives with a lot of happiness, so that was good, and they left a lot of happiness in their wake. Whatever may be beyond this life, if anything, hopefully that will also be happy for them. If they retain their personality on the transition over, then I'm sure they will be well-liked wherever they end up.
I don't have an official will, yet, but I have set up things that will see my wife or kids taken care of when I'm gone, so I am at least that prepared. Like the cherry blossoms, it could be today or next week, but it will come before we know it (and before I'm ready), so being prepared is a good thing.
Anyway, sorry for the ramble. I hope you recover from the loss of your friend, and best of luck to your MIL.
Thanks, I appreciate that. No worries on the ramble. I get it. Whether you are ready or not, talking about this sort of stuff always brings up a lot of thoughts. Some of them good, some of them we would prefer to avoid. I would imagine for some it is more of a peaceful conversation. It's good to get it out there either way!