Just Be

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.
Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude

I think that this quote says it all. In the last 5 months or so I've lost 3 immediate family members and one close family friend. Through it all my friends have been there, and for the past 5 days I've tried to be that friend. It's hard to even describe my feelings, grieving myself and watching a family far different from my own mourn at the same time. I've definitely learned that there are times when it's important to just be a constant presence while people feel their loss, or as my friend Adam would say "just be."