Something in Common

I talked, she listened. She wondered how I was doing, how I was feeling, how my trip to Door County was without my dad. Questions about my trip to Guatemala as well as what the rest of my plans were for the summer.

I talked about some of the things that reminded me of my dad...golfing, our passion for sports, our choice of careers, the books that we both liked to read...I have recently run across several people that knew my dad - it was great to hear all of the nice things that they had to say about my dad.

As I was talking, I had to pause in order to swallow the big lump that had formed in my throat. A tear trickled down my cheek as she looked at me with understanding eyes. I glanced at her and noticed that tears were forming in her eyes. I stopped to grab a tissue from the table next to me. As I did this, she spoke softly and told me that her dad had died unexpectedly a month ago so she could understand what I was going through. I felt so sad for her and wanted to get up from the couch and give her a huge hug but I knew that I couldn't. I whispered that I was sorry about her dad as I watched her dab her eyes with a kleenex. A few more tears fell from my eyes and at that moment, I felt as if time had stopped. We sat for a moment in silence as she gathered herself. My heart went out to her...

As I left the office, I couldn't stop thinking about her and the sorrow she felt because of her dad's death. I drove away knowing that she was now travelling down that road we call "grief".