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My
father died suddenly. He hadn’t been sick or anything;
it just happened one day. I am sure this is the single
worst thing that I have ever had to go through in my life.
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Because I was the first of any of my friends to have a
parent die, most of my friends had trouble knowing
“the right” thing to say to me. Ironically, one of the
more difficult aspects of his death was dealing with the
reactions of other people around me.
Watching others struggle with the whole
WHAT TO SAY issue was painful and uncomfortable.
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The previous year, my friend's stepmother had died
and I remember waiting to hear advice from her--some words
of wisdom, as if she could tell me what was going to
happen to me. But nothing came. I was disappointed. But it
wasn’t just her. Several of my friends
let me down during that time.
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I am not sure what I expected from them or what I needed.
I am not mad at them anymore because there was no way they
could have known what to do or say.
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--Zoe Balsam
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