I learned yesterday of the loss of a friend. We met in 06, I think…maybe 07. We had a common history of living through abuse, and connected there. She was a gentle soul, but with a quick bite and that semi-harsh East Coast wit. Life was never kind to her, what I knew of it, and she had a very guarded nature also. A few years ago, she lost her closest son, the one who lived with her, took care of her…they took care of each other. It was sudden, unexpected, and oh so preventable. It broke her, as the death of a child does to a parent. I ached, from a distance. She had remarried, a ‘good Christian man’, who fractured her sternum hitting her their first year of marriage. I don’t know why but she never reported it. She withdrew, and I’m withdrawn already by nature…we kept saying we’d get together for coffee, catch up. We did once, that was when I learned about the fractured sternum. I wish we had both found it in us to get together more.

On the other side of it, I feel some relief, for her. I am not so sure her death was the accident it was described as, but I know she was in pain, suffering, and missing her son. They are together now, of that I am sure, in a place with no more tears, no more pain, no more suffering. Perhaps she’ll get some questions answered. Love you KR, and we’ll meet again one day….maybe you can show me around.