My friend’s older sister died. I rang him up at his Connecticut home.  Rich, melodic, ”Hello.”   “It’s McGee,” I said.  “Hey.” I got to the subject. “I heard Val died. I'm so sorry.”  Pause…. “I appreciate it. Thanks. She died on the 29th. She’d been sick and had a recurrence. I got a chance to go out there and spend some time with her before it happened,” he said. “She’d become a Buddhist. She didn’t complain about her situation,   accepting it all it seemed .”  “I always li