"The dying is easier to take," said 79 year old Miss Sue when comparing her dead friends to the slowly fading variety.
You know the Pale Shadow. Your life has at least a couple of them. The people to whom you were once close, who withdrew. Maybe they had kids. Maybe they moved away. Maybe they got an SO. Maybe the SO is a Yoko. Or maybe love simply died. You're not sure. But you have plenty of time to figure it out, because a wispy facsimile of that relationship remains in your life. It has become the Pale Shadow. It has become fake. Perfunctory. The Pale Shadow sullies what should be happy memories. It mocks you. It taunts your inability to grieve.
I think I'd rather take an eraser to my address book, frankly.