I hadn't thought about it in these terms before but very true. A melancholy wrapped up in these losses with a different flavor from the usual. Strikes me as a thing that's very modern -- our ability to feel these close attachments to people who we've spent so many hours with -- feeling intensely with, in many cases -- but never knew.

Such a concept would have made no sense for most of human history. We're feeling "innovative" emotions. The emotional version of technological determinism, perhaps.