That headline is not about now, but rather a time a year and four months ago, when Joe Biden was considering running for president. As I say here, I understand and respect his decision. But watching the Presidential Medal of Freedom award ceremony today, I can’t help thinking that the world might be very different if Biden had decided to run.
I know how Joe Biden feels. I don’t think I’ve ever used that phrase before, because of course we can never know. But this time I think I’m close enough for horseshoes and hand grenades. Joe lost his 46-year-old son Beau less than four 
months ago, on May 30. Two days later I lost my 29-year-old son Thomas. Now Joe, at 72, and I, at 69, are trying to figure out how to spend the rest of our productive lives.
Joe and I are both in that stage of mourning where we must find our new normal. At first it seemed like the activity never stopped — receiving friends and neighbors, opening sympathy cards, making arrangements with a funeral home, organizing memorial services, showing up, making connections with our son’s friends, finding old pictures, posting on Facebook and reading replies, admiring the flowers people sent, eating and giving away all the…
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