The Voice of Sorrow

Today I was informed that a dear friend's daughter just lost her husband. My friend's daughter and her new husband were young, married this past summer. They had a wonderful future they had planned together and the newness of their love was still simmering and alive. As heartsick as I am, I cannot even imagine the sorrow his and my friend's families are feeling. Helplessness is the only word that comes to me, something we all encounter when faced with the unthinkable.

It is a hard thing to understand, why someone who is good and full of life, willing to give back to the world, is taken from us and others who might do harm are not. There is no answer for these things, no way to escape the helplessness and sometime random shocks that come with being alive. Having faced some of those shock waves in my own life's earthquakes, I can only say that in the end, sorrow will visit us all. Life does not provide an escape route from tragedy. It is only the manner in which we confide to ourselves, in that darkness what we say about the sorrow, that will add or take away from our life and even (to some extent) the life that was lost.

For me, this is a reminder to love the people in front of me. To cherish each and every moment shared with my husband, my children, my grandchildren...my sister and her family...and all the friends that have been gifted to me over the years. This is a reminder that I have today, this moment, that is mine. There is no, nor has there ever been, any guarantees for that next moment we all think will be there. Sometimes, the only peace that comes with tragedy is to accept it, for in acceptance we might all find (in time) comfort. Then in the warm wind of comfort, there is a chance for us to gather the flowers from the garden that was shared. I send my love and prayers to my friends, her daughter, and her husband's family. I send my love and prayers to everyone who has met sorrow. Tomorrow will come and this too shall pass. There is value in the words that a dear friend was given in her time of sorrow...sometimes it just take a lot of tears.