The last couple of weeks have been difficult. I lost a friend/former coworker/protege, along with her husband, in a tragic accident.
And honestly, I didn’t know what to say about how I felt, so I said nothing.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that silence is an acceptable response when words are inadequate.
As a person of faith, and knowing that my friend was a person of faith, I have comfort despite my grief. But gosh, the grief is still so very fresh. It probably will be for some time.
Yet one thing I’ve taken from this experience is that I don’t want to take my coworkers for granted. And I thought about that as I was hugging my former coworkers – hugging them hard, because I was glad I still could hug them – at the funeral this weekend.
None of us knows the days we have left so we need to make sure that our time is intentional (I’ve talked about that before in posts here, here and here).
So yesterday during our team Thanksgiving potluck I made sure to tell my team that I love working with them. That I appreciate them. That I feel that I’m the luckiest girl in the world to do what I do every day and to do it alongside them.
If I could encourage you to do one thing, it would be to speak words of affirmation to others in the moment. Don’t assume that they know, don’t wait for another day.
