Quote:
Originally Posted by hipster duck
Chris Rock is making waves for all the wrong reasons right now, but back during the height of the pandemic the NY Times had a good interview with him where he observed that, at the end of your life, the people who take care of you and are by your bedside are your spouse (if they're still alive) and your kids. He ends off saying "Enjoy them while you have them. But if you think your friends are your long-term solution to loneliness, you’re an idiot."
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I agree with Chris Rock.
My father was insanely popular as a young man. He led the student union for years at Sir George Williams (Concordia) University. He was extremely extroverted, self-deprecating, and endearing, and he had a ton of friends. For much of his life he kept in touch with his friends, even as he moved around (eventually to the West Coast and Okanagan Valley, where he met plenty of new friends). When he was diagnosed terminal with cancer, he did have some phone chats with friends, but none came to visit him. He died with me and one of my two brothers by his side, in a hospital in the Okanagan. A month later, we had a burial ceremony in the town where he grew up (Danville, Quebec). Family came, including his three sons, grandchildren (my two kids), ex-wife (my mom, and her current husband), my wife, my wife's parents, my wife's brother and his wife, my dad's sister and her husband, and one of my best friends and his sons. None of my father's living friends showed up (despite me having been in telephone contact with about five of them, with three saying they would come).
Only (some) family sticks around at the end.