“”Every heart has it’s sorrow, which the world knows not, and oftentimes we call a man cold when he is only sad” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Every now and then I read a quote that really speaks to me on a personal level. This particular one made me think of my dad. As most of you know, my mom died when I was ten years old. There were eight kids in our family. As you can imagine, it had a devastating effect on all of us. But it wasn’t until I was an adult with kids of my own that I finally understood the toll it took on my dad’s emotional well-being. I could go into a long story about how he changed, but I’m not going to do that here. I will just say that when I finally understood his pain, it broke my heart and made me love him all the more. He once told my brother that after mom died, everyone would come up and ask him how the kids were doing, which is understandable. But, he said, no one ever asked him how HE was doing. My dad was a good man. He changed after she died and back then I thought he was cold, but really, he was just sad.
It’s what I felt for three years after my daughter took her life and after we lost our dear Michael.
So the next time you come across someone who seems cold, maybe look closer. Maybe they are just sad.
Lia 02/13/2022
