Winter Blues?

Why, tell me, do I feel more lonely than ever before? Is it my daughter growing up and having nearly flown the nest? Is it my wife sleeping in her own bed, leading a parallel, disconnected life? When we speak, we seem to disagree. Is it my father's increasing dementia? Or is it just a dearth of sunlight? My dog is just as far gone as my father. She sleeps. I wake her for meals and carry her outside to do her business or up the stairs at night to bed. Is it being so estranged from the workplace, worried about most things, from paying taxes to health insurance to the absence of love to finding meaning in this life? It is not that life is bad. It is that it feels so empty.