Today after sacrament meeting, one of the ward members hailed me as she was leaving the building. She came over to me, and we started talking. She is in a terrible situation. Her husband is dying of cancer. He is on an experimental drug that may be helping, but the drug is very expensive, and not covered by insurance. I asked her if there was anything that I could do. She told me that things are pretty much under control. I asked her, "How are you doing?" At that, she broke into tears, and we ended up in a hard embrace, and her crying into my shoulder. We stood for a couple of minutes, then said goodbye.
A hug really isn't enough. She told me how hard this is for her, and that is something I do understand. I do know what it is like to lose a loved one. I know that being on that path can mean loss, loneliness, despair, a truly broken heart. I think that most of us will experience that loss sometime in our life: a bad breakup, a death, a divorce, a broken friendship. We have relationships with people we love, then the day comes when a person is no longer with us. Contemplating that loss is a little like gazing down at the Grand Canyon. It's an abyss. It's a daunting distance and journey to the other side, and it doesn't seem to come with any promise of actually being able to get there.
I feel helpless in situations like this. About the only thing I can do is offer my shoulder, offer a hug. It's a raw and human place to be. And that hug seems so very small.
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