When someone grieves, there isn't really anything to say. We all wonder, what should I say? but there aren't any words that help, save, perhaps, accidentally. We can listen, though. We can be kind.
S lost her mother last week, part of why I went in on Wednesday, to cover her shift. She was there today, subdued but present. I said hi in the locker room, where she'd gone to eat her lunch in quiet, but left her alone. When we were done our day, she was in the staff room.
"Are you done for the day?"
"Yeah," she said.
"I'm sorry," I said, then massaged her shoulders.
"I'm really tight!"
"I can't imagine why... ."
She thanked me, I said, "well, it was that or bad jokes."
"I like those, too!" She let me hug her lightly, held my wrist a moment.
Nothing helps, but little acts of kindness don't hurt.
4 comments:
It is certainly important to be there to listen.
funny you should write this now - just an hour or so ago on my long walk home i thought that the older i get the more i appreciate kindness, the more i notice it and seek it out in others. the flashier qualities that attracted me in my youth wear away to some degree, but kindness gains importance day by day.
good of you to be kind.
Phil,
Nothing else matters.
pc,
It really matters, don't it?
That's it.
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