By Jason KarlawishJuly 8, 2026 Karlawish is a professor of medicine, medical ethics, health policy, and neurology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, co-director of the Penn Memory Center, and executive producer of the “Age of Aging“ podcast. After Doug met Jane, he felt good. So too did Gabriella, his wife. Doug — a retired minister and writer — needed someone to talk to, and in conversation about his many accomplishments, Jane was indefatigable. For at least a few hours, Doug’s boredom vanished, and Gabriella no longer felt like an activities director on a cruise ship. I wrote about Doug and Gabriella in my May Neurotransmissions column about ambiguous loss. Doug told me he was “bored, bored, bored,” and Gabriella said she struggled to find activities to reli