Losing a partner is a fact of life. Though we know women tend to live longer than men, it doesn’t make it any easier when they leave us. It’s not something most women actively plan for. My paternal grandmother lost my grandfather in her early 60s. My parents were both in their 80s when my father passed. I was even younger when I experienced this unexpected, unwished-for, uncoupling—an unwanted witness to a slow and painful death.