I got word yesterday that one of my last two surviving aunts died on Friday; she died from Alzheimer's. While I wasn't particularly close with her, largely due to living some 950 miles away from her, she was a kind woman as all my aunts have been - my grandparents did something right in their main duty. Both of my maternal grandparents were claimed by the disease and now three of their six daughters have succumbed to it as well, including my mother. I still have one aunt remaining, but I think she's been lucky and escaped its wrath given how vibrant her memory is to this day (the two that died from other causes died early deaths from cancer and alcoholism). The odds are not in my favor on this one. Watching my mom go through it firsthand, knowing roughly how it would've gone down for my grandparents and aunts, it's not really made for the happiest of weekends.