Extreme

Now I am a woman of a certain age and single, which can be good.
It feels vulnerable, and is as lonely as one allows it to be. Perhaps not at all.

Only - to get here, I had to watch Gerald, who I loved and knew, suffer, shrivel and die.
My children could hardly bear it.
And have the remembrance of a dad, but no actual live father.

That seems a little harsh.
For all four of us.