Sadness

Sorrow you can hold, however desolating, if nobody speaks to you.

If they speak, you break down.

~Bede Jarrett

So, what do you say when a friend looses her child. A child not yet born. A child she never had the chance to hold in her arms. A child just hours, moments from his/her birth day. A child she will never get to know. A child she will love for the rest of her days.

You say nothing, unless she asks you to, because nothing can or will make a difference. But, you can be there if and when she needs you to be.

"Friends are the pillars on you porch.
Sometimes they hold you up, sometimes they lean on you,
and sometimes it's just enough to know that they are standing by."
author unknown

Growing up

It's tough growing up.
It's even tougher when you're a parent, an adult, and you realize that there is no end to growing up.

And tougher yet is the realization that with growing up comes an endless amount of learning. Learning to be a good parent. Learning to be a good spouse. Learning to be a good friend. Learning to be all that you dreamt you were going to grow up to be. Learning that you may not have grown up to be what you had dreamt you would be.

When you're a kid you can't wait to be an adult because then life is so easy. You are the boss.

Until you grow up and realize that growing up is not as easy as you had thought it would be.

But with learning we grow.

So, do we learn to grow?
or
Do we grow to learn?

Any piece of knowledge I acquire today has a value at this moment exactly proportional to my skill to deal with it. Tomorrow, when I know more, I recall that piece of knowledge and use it better.

– Mark Van Doren