Today, I am going to write a little about being 81.

One day last week, my wife and I went to the funeral of a friend who we have known from our synagogue for at least 30 years. She was 95.

This week, on Monday, my wife attended the funeral of a woman with whom she used to play mah jongg.

The next day, I went to the funeral of the wife of one of the men in my Thursday morning breakfast group.

Yesterday, I received a telephone call from a friend from a hospital telling me she just had suffered a heart attack.

I am in regular touch with several other relatives and friends who have chronic and serious medical issues.

Yesterday, I read that one of my high school classmates, with whom I had been friendly, had passed away. When looking at her death notice in a newspaper that had a number of death notices, I saw that another high school friend, an individual a class behind me, also had passed away.

This is what it is like to be 81. Glass half full? Glass half empty?

Sorry – I know this might be a downer. Let me leave you with this. Glass half full.