When I was in my thirties, my best friend’s grandmother died. When I asked how her mother was doing she said, “Well, my mom is an orphan now.” This caught me completely off guard. I had just began my work in Haiti with Emmaus House. I was dealing with the plight of orphans on a daily basis. Her mother was a strong, successful woman in her 60’s. How could she be an orphan? The young people I was dealing with, of course, they were orphans…but someone at that age? I bega