I'm Afraid To Ask Anyone: "What's New?"

The other day I ran into an old friend. I loved the top she was wearing, told her and then asked:

"What's new?"
"My mother died a couple of weeks ago."
"What?!? I didn't know. I'm so sorry."
"Oh, I shouldn't have told you like that. I'm sorry."
"You didn't do anything wrong. You're still in shloshim.* Say what you need to say."

Then today, I was walking in Jerusalem and ran into someone I hadn't seen for years:
"What's new?"
First she sort of said "nothing." Then she stopped, turned to me and said:

"One of my daughters died a couple of months ago."
"I'm so sorry."

Then we talked a bit. I can't remember the last time we exchanged more than:

"What's new?"
"Baruch Hashem, Thank G-d, and you?"

In less than a week, these two conversations. Both started, expecting nothing more than dull answers.

Very frightening.

*the first 30 days of mourning. In Jewish Law it has a special status.