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The Ones Who Can Be With You In Silence
The True Gift of Friendship
Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it’s all over. -Octavia Butler
I have a good circle of friends and in that area I am rich, friends who are there for me despite there own pain, one of those friends lost a son to a car accident he was only in his twenties and the loss, and pain are fairly recent, but even if that were not the case I know a pain like that doesn’t fade away. It’s not a subject I bring up in our conversations, but on occasion she will bring it up, and I’ll do my best to comfort her. But I can’t pretend to know what she’s going through. I can let her know that I am there if she needs to vent.
But there are times I know what she needs is space, space to grieve, space to heal. She’s not only dealing with the loss of her son, but health issues of her own, something she feels a level of guilt about, because she’s used to being the one to care for others. I gently reminded her a couple of weeks ago when we went out to lunch that there was nothing wrong with taking the time to care for herself.
True friendship is when two friends can walk in opposite directions, yet remain side by side…
