Adjusting to Loss

I just got off the phone with someone I know who is a carpenter. Kinda morbid conversation - he lost his thumb working last week and wants to see old photos I have of him with his thumb. He is longing for it. And I do have some very good photos of both of his hands.

And yet he says he isn't really depressed about it yet though his doctor assures him that depression over it will definitely come. I hope he manages that part of his recovery and adjustment to life as an amputee. I remember how depression over a much worse disability ended the life of one of my best friends years ago. He is a strong man who accepts that life always includes pain and sorrow and decline - that it is our attitude about it and action in response to it that makes all the difference. I think that acceptance will shield him from a lot of the rougher edges.