Loss

Suddenly this evening a friend rang me. He sounded frantic and lost, and he told me that his aunt passed away unexpectedly. He was shocked, he said, and didn't know how to react, especially being so far away from home. "I'm sorry," I said, the cliche phrase that you say to someone who lost someone... but sorry sometimes doesn't quite express what you want to say or comfort the way you would like the other person to be comforted.

So after we finished talking, I went to the store and picked out a card. A very simple one, with lotuses on the cover and the inside left blank. I wrote a few words, and put the card on my friend's doorhandle. He's bound to see it first thing when he gets home later tonight.

And I walked home, feeling pleased about myself. Not in a smug way, I don't think. Pleased in the sense that I hoped that my friend can find comfort in my words, for writing often 'says' more than the spoken word (ironically). I know everyone's grief and sense of loss is different, and I can only imagine how my friend is feeling from the sound of his voice on the phone.

But I hope he knows that he is not alone.