When I see a stranger in pain, it pains me that my words or hugs or gestures would only be intrusion, no comfort. But when you hear of news that must strike someone to the center of them, and that person is loved by someone you love... what is there to do or say?

A good friend of the man I love is going through something horrible, perhaps a tragic cliff at the end of the most painful and exhausting journey, but I am powerless to help her. For a moment, holding him while he felt the pain of it, I felt only guilt... there I was... clinging to the man I love, who loves me beautifully, while a good person is experiencing something so terrible. Why should I have such happiness while a good person suffers? I know she is a good person. I can see it in his eyes.

I came to the answer that we should be grateful for our blessings while we have them, for we all could lose what we have at any time. A trite and cliched truth.

I pray she reads my site, although she has no reason to. Though it may be of no comfort to you, this stranger loves you. I love you because I know pain, though I have never known anything like what you have been going through. I care because I know you must be a beautiful person who deserves better. I cry and pray for you because love and empathy make one feel what someone they love feels. When he cries for you, paining at your pain, I feel it too. If there is ever anything either of us can do, you know the number. Your calls are more than welcome in my home. If it would help to talk to me, I'll be there. If you need me to leave while you talk to him, I'll drive to Marengo and back. Whatever you need, please know that you are not alone.