Everybody has struggles.  This is something that my kids and I talk about. It is usually triggered by seeing someone that needs help with their mobility, but I try to make sure they understand that everyone struggles with something, multiple somethings. Some of the struggles we can see, some are happening in people’s environment, body, home, work space, head.

A former co-worker of mine committed suicide this week.  I hadn’t seen him for a couple of years, but since I heard the news he has been on my mind every day.  My sadness for the loss of him to his family and community, my sadness that he found himself in a struggle where he could not see any other solution.  I think of the struggles that his family and friends are going through trying to understand why, all the ‘would of, could of, should ofs’ that will haunt them, and all the days ahead of missing him in their lives.  When I attended the funeral I was allowed into a part of his life I would have never witnessed if he hadn’t died.  Pictures of childhood, high school, wedding, stories and memories being shared by the people in whose lives he had connected.  I wondered how long he had been struggling for him to reach the place he did, if he was unaware of how important he was to others, how highly people thought of him.

It is sad knowing he is no longer sharing the world.