Life is short

Got sad news today from an ex-colleague. His father has cancer and is weakening.

My heart dropped. I could literally feel his pain. He did not say it in so many words but I could hear it from his voice and the words he chose to use. Whoever said men do not have feelings obviously have not been around many men. There are those who feel, and chose not to show those feelings. Maybe they think it's unmanly to express their grieves openly. But whatever their reasons, they do feel the sorrow. They do grieve, on the inside. They do ache.

My friend is not one to openly show his feelings. I wanted to give him a comforting hug but somehow it did not seem appropriate because he is obviously unused to such open gestures. He might freak out. So I did what I thought best. I listened to him. I let him talk. And finally, me being a typical female with very female emotions (who cries at sad movies and sad stories), I said it was ok to cry, if he ever feels the need to cry. I just had to say that. To tell him that it's ok to be sad. We are and will never ready to see our parent helpless or to let one go, no matter our age, no matter how far apart we are, no matter how many children we have. But it is the circle of life. All we could hope for is a life well lived; a life full of laughs, loving family, circle of good friends, and good food (that's me!).

So to all of us: Enjoy life. Hakuna matata.