Lately I have been consumed by loss, and by the notion of loss. Working as a physician for the last two years, my confidence in the durability of health, life, and even community, has eroded. Personally, I was lucky. None of my family or close friends died of our plague, but professionally I watched as countless people we cared for intensely progressed with illness, suffered, and ultimately died. For them, and for the loved ones they left behind, the loss was final. This haunting loss was all encompassing, often unassuming at first, but closing fast.