“Now there’s a million dollar idea! Someone ought to write a no nonsense instructional booklet for the men folk, one that we would automatically recognize and understand. One that would help us, step by step, through the harrowing experience of having a person we love at death’s door.”

My first Relationships and Intimacy column was titled “It Never Entered My Mind.” It recounted a conversation I had with a woman who told me of the very painful personal experience she had while attending the death of her beloved husband in a Midwestern hospice. Apparently, it struck a chord with some. I don’t get a lot of correspondence from people who read my columns, but every now and again the odd email or letter will show up, and I am reassured that my efforts haven’t been for naught. I love when that happens.

Not long after that first column appeared, I got an email from a fellow who may have seen it. He didn’t reference it directly, but it would have been quite a coincidence had he not. This fellow wanted some practical tips on how he might broach the subject of sex with his wife who had been recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

The man’s name was Alex. What struck me most about his message was his manner. In typical male fashion, he got right to the point.