Time Marches By and On and On.....

      This year, on July 20, I turned seventy-two. At this time next year, if things go well, I'll be seventy-three. I've noticed that during the progress of the past few years or so, more and more of my old school friends, early adulthood workmates, and friends in general, have passed through the veil. I'm saddened by these events - and maybe just a bit alarmed.
      Older, wrinkled, grizzled, care-worn faces merge in and out with the soft, smooth, and sometimes, cherubic faces of those who have taken their last ride in a Cadillac. I must confess a bit of envy - just a bit, mind you - that now, they know the rest of the tale.
      When setting thoughts down on these occasions of an old friend's demise, I am bought up short and stand face-to-face with an internal quandary: how the devil do I express my regrets?  
      Today, I watched The 24/7/365 News (that was the first daily idiocy committed) and which said idiocy brings me to my dilemma: Do I express my comments to The Departed in the form of "Condolences" or "Congratulations"?