I know that many of you also receive my weekly newsletter, Finding Words in Hard Times. Or you follow me on Facebook or Linkedin. So you may have read last week’s newsletter already.

Some of you are only here (which is fine). So I thought it worthwhile to point you to that newsletter issue.

It starts like this:

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Friends matter.

A friend once said something close to “friends are the family you choose, or who choose you.”

This week, a friend died. We weren’t close, but had been aware of each other for a long time. Her spouse is a friend, and as a couple they were deeply embedded in circles of friendship that I care about. A few weeks back, an acquaintance died suddenly. I know and care deeply about his parents.

No one has asked for this, but I thought, “Knowing what I know about loss and grief, what could I say to these people I care about and have, from time to time, cared for?”

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Here’s the link to the rest of the note to my friends:

057 – A note to friends who are recently grieving. What I would say if we were sitting together.

If it would be helpful to someone else, I invite you to share it, too.