I was a member of a very tight-knit high school class (1957). I think we spent our teen years in a very good era - Ike was in the White House, the Korean war was over, and we didn't have to lock our doors at night. Gasoline sold for peanuts. We learned to drive cars and started dating. We learned to shoot guns responsibly and many of us owned them. No serial numbers. No mass shootings. "Happy days" for sure.
We hung together as friends through the years, even having both 10-year reunions and yearly luncheons.
We are now in our 80s, and the downside is that our numbers are dwindling. I checked our class roster several years ago and noted that about 25% of us no longer exist. I am sure that even more of us have since passed.
In the past several years, I lost a sad number of good friends. Each one was a personal loss for me. My longest-running friend who was a neighbor of mine growing up is suffering from Parkinson's disease, and despite treatment and rehab, is dwindling visibly almost every day. I will not take it lightly when he goes.
We all have an expiration date. Last year my college girlfriend passed from cancer, suffering dementia in the process. I didn't learn about it until months after she died, and regretted that I didn't get to see her at least one more time. She died all alone sleeping in hospice care.
When those you really care about leave, it hurts - really hurts. Like George Burns remarked on his old age, the only benefit is "no peer pressure." It's sadly inevitable. Someday I hope we all meet again up there.
My sincere condolences on the loss of your friend.
John