The Lonely Road

A friend, a woman whose friendship has been a blessing beyond measure to me, shared a confidence the other day.

It was one of those things that ranks a bad on the cancer scale, and I told her so. I am glad that I can be a friend with perspective like that. It’s the silver lining of all those times I’ve dead-ended conversations by saying things like “Choosing between two shades of off-white dupioni drapes isn’t like figuring out where to go to treat your case of advanced cancer. It doesn’t really matter.” This one mattered.

I didn’t say much of anything. There wasn’t much to say.

“I don’t want to deal with this,” she said. “Do I have to deal with this?”

Maybe by telling me, she’s begun. I hope so.