The Hard Stuff

 I spent some time doing some of the hard stuff recently.  But here is the thing, you don't really realize that it's going to be hard until you are there in the middle of it, holding back the tears or just shutting down a bit. I was very excited to have a friend from Macedonia come and visit.  I loved spending time with her and we had a great time together.  Part of her coming was that I would drive her to Cincy for the conference which brought her to the states.  I had been to Cincy several time a couple years ago when Steve had his bile duct consultation and surgery.  It's a long flat drive, but easy, and I am always up for a road trip.  I also got my niece to go with us, so I had company on the way home.  Our drive was uneventful.  Then we stopped at Jungle Jim's a crazy fun international food store, which we had stopped at our first time in Cincy.  I didn't think much of it, until I stepped inside and remembered the fun we had there.  And then driving into the city, all we went through there come flooding back.  The next day after I said goodbye to my friend, my niece and I went to the other Jungle Jim's something we had wanted to do. And then walking through a song came on that I used to play on repeat when I was missing him when I was finishing my time in Macedonia.  The drive back was uneventful too, except the realization of how much I missed road tripping with him - it was something he was always up for. 

Don't get me wrong, I had a good time, it was great to spend time with my friend and my niece, but wow, what should have just been a fun time away - turned into doing some hard stuff that I never expected would be hard.  That's the way grief rolls, those spaces, those places that we enjoyed and now I go as me = hard stuff - who knew? 

So, do you know someone grieving?  Be aware that something once enjoyed can be hard, that doesn't mean don't invite, it doesn't mean they wouldn't enjoy it - it just means emotions, tears and some mild shut down (or major) could happen but they would rather do it with company than face it alone.