Surprising how quickly things change when life throws the unexpected into the mix. This week my thoughts are with my friend, who cannot join me on the restart of the CHIP program Instead, she will be looking after a friend who has a terminal illness. Girl, I am thinking about you, just so you know.

And yesterday received word that another friend’s daughter, not yet fifty years old, has unexpectedly died. So I am thinking about her loss today also.

On the one hand, the grief one goes through over a longer period of time as an illness progresses. On the other, the sudden grief of the unexpected and immediate loss. Neither way is really easier or more bearable than the other, I suppose. As I try to empathize with someone else’s loss and their grief, I always come back to my late husband’s battle with heart disease that was taking him slowly, and then the car accident that, even so, cut his time short. But I have not lost a child, so I cannot fully understand the way that feels.

Still, my thoughts are with both of my friends today.  I wish I was able to offer more comfort to each of them. Wishing both strength and peace.

Carol