this evening at work an old man came in wearing an oxygen tube and carrying a tank. i had a strange desire to tell him about my mother. as if he and she could of been good friends just because of this commonality. i could hear myself saying,"oh yeah, you would've really liked her. her tank was smaller and a newer model but she wouldn't have held that against you."
he had a coughing attack and i got him some water. with ice. i thought about telling him how mom had a theory that if the water was too cold it would take longer for the oxygen to get absorbed into the system, but i didn't.
when is it ok to enter into someone else's pain?
when will it be ok to let someone enter mine?
1 comment:
yeah, how do you know?
i have this friend whose baby girl died four days after being born last fall.... and basically all i could tell her was that i didn't know what to say. and, i don't think i wrote again since, until i heard from her this weekend.
like, do i tell her about my boyfriend's co-worker who just found out she was pregnant after trying for ten years, and the next day had a miscarriage?
do i tell her about my friend whose mom died around the same time last fall, or do i think 'no, 'cause that friend has a healthy little girl... maybe that wouldn't be the right thing to mention...'
i don't know. but, keep writing, keep thinking, keep trusting.
Post a Comment