I've been avoiding use of my blog to post status updates on principle, but something happened to me today that I think needs to be shared.
Just in case there are readers beyond my little circle of English friends, a little over a month ago my mom passed away from a sudden tragic illness. I was glad to see my elementary school best friend and her mom at the memorial service (my mom always really liked them; I think she was happy they were there, too), and today they invited me to dinner and a movie for a girls' night out. Since I have no sisters, I'm now the only female in the house, so it felt really good to spend time with both of them.
However, when we picked the movie we wanted to see, we didn't know that the heroine's mother dies at the end. Hearing the main character pleading, "Mom, Mom, no!" and watching her bleed... It was too much for me, too soon. All I could see was my own mom. I lost it. I sobbed in the middle of the theater, and didn't care who heard me. My friend's mom crossed over to the seat next to me, and held me for a long time. My grief passed soon enough for me to watch the last few minutes of the movie, but afterwards when she commented about the character's mom, "Well, I didn't see that coming!" I cried, "We didn't see it coming for my mom either!" and it all caught up with me again.
In the middle of my tears I looked up to see that a perfect stranger had approached me, and said, "I just wanted to tell you I'm so sorry for your loss, and it's gonna be okay." I was so touched that someone I don't even know would be so kind to comfort me, just from seeing me cry in a theater. It makes me feel that there really are good people in the world, and there really is a kindred spirit of humanity in us all. Like the love you can give to a mother or a child is the same you can give to a brother or a sister, or a friend, or a stranger you see on the street, and through those expressions of love every single person on this earth is connected. Like Shakespeare said, the more love you give, the more you have, "for both are infinite."
I wish I could find that woman who spoke to me in the theater so I can tell her how much it meant to me, but I guess there's no way I can find her again. My only hope is that if I can show the same kindness to a stranger, or if you can after reading this, maybe that love will find its way back to her, and in the process, to the whole wide world.
