Touched

Today I got to have lunch and go for a walk with a dear friend. She, at only 24, lost her father a month ago to Leukemia. This was sudden and unexpected, he presented with pneumonia just one week before. Needless to say, it completely rocked her world as she knew it. I have watched this dear friend struggle to come to grips with this and all that she has experience since her father's death. She is learning about herself and her father.

Despite all this grief and transition that she is experiencing, she has been thinking about others and wanting to help those that she cares about. We are very likely going to lose my mother-in-law to cancer in the next year. She has been through three rounds of treatment and is ready to stop. My dear friend has offered to speak with my husband and had a number of conversations with me. She has talked about how she feels, how her husband (of four months) is reacting, and how things are between them. She has given me some things to think about and be ready for when Mike begins his grieving process.

These aren't things that I want to think about yet, but I'm so touched by her generosity. It takes a truly special person to reach out to others while in such deep grief. I just hope that I can show someone the same grace and understanding someday that my dear friend has shown me.