Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

I woke up early as I do these days, so I went to the post office to mail a couple of packages, then met up with my friend to take a walk and have a cappuchino. That caused me to need to pee, so we went to Trade Joe's for the bathroom and came out with two bunches of peonies each. We figured we'll get them while they are available. A bunch of five is the price of one stem at a florist. What's not to like?! I then returned home to continue reading an incredible book about a man whose two year old daughter died when a brick fell from eight stories above on her and her grandmother. Talk about chance and randomness. It sounds gruesome, but he describes so well all the grief and suffering that I have felt that it's like hearing the truth from someone who KNOWS. He and his wife struggle to come back to an approximation of their lives, and I know they are going to succeed, so the book is hopeful and encouraging as well. In the chapter I just finished, they've gone to a weekend retreat/workshop for people who have lost a wife, brother, child. They are skeptical, but comforted by being with other strangers who have had a similar loss. I find myself also soothed by friends who have had losses. My walking friend lost her husband in their forties, and raised her two kids alone, as did another friend. I feel like they "get me" and we don't need to say anything. Words don't help. But friends really, really do.