Old Age is not for the Weak of Heart

The matriarch got a phone call today from a niece with congenital heart failure; the woman is 80 but, to my mother-in-law, she is her sister's daughter and the last of her generation still alive. A nephew has been diagnosed with leukemia and is still alive but, and of course this is sad, he is dying. The niece has been put on water pills to reduce her fluid and, maybe, she'll be okay. But, the woman is 80 and it is not unheard of for a person of such an age to die. Not that the information is any comfort to the matriarch. She invited her niece to her birthday party and pointedly told her I did not invite her. The niece cannot come but I will send her an invitation. (Just a note, I am now sending invitations out to the party the matriarch is telling everyone we are not giving.) But, really, how can anyone want to live beyond all those who they have known who have lived and died? It breaks my heart listening to the matriarch; she wonders why she is still alive and everyone else is dead. It must break her heart to feel so much loss.