Dealing With Tragedy

The phone call.

Why is my sister calling in the middle of a Friday afternoon?

The unreality. Who? How? That makes no sense! HOW?

What can we do to help? Of course, I’ll call my other brothers and sisters…

And always back to the unreality. This can’t be happening. (You’ll tell yourself that a lot in the near future, I’m sure.)

So few details. So many questions.

Tomorrow will be another day. But they’ll never be the same for my sister. Or the rest of us, but especially, of course, for her.

What can we do to help?

I wish we could make it go away. To make it not be real. But that’s not the way it works.

Forward. Tomorrow. Then the next day. Then the next week. One step at a time. One day at a time.

What can we do to help?

Hug your loved ones tonight. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Be good to one another. Tell each other you love them. Be there for each other. Don’t put it off until tomorrow.

That’s how you can help.

It won’t be enough. But it’s all we’ve got. Each other.