Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

My husband and I realized that looking through photos for pictures of our daughter who died has traumatized us. We want to organize all the photos, but need a break. My husband has been having disturbing dreams about the photos, and I've struggled with mental fatigue and depression. So we're going to concentrate of getting our trees trimmed and the gutters cleaned, and protect ourselves for a while. I've walked with women friends four days in a row, which has helped tremendously. The weather has been perfect for walking, and we've stopped for errands along the way, doing double duty. Today my friend wept a little about the twenty fifth anniversary of her husband's death. She so missed the support the father of her two children would have given her. She has a partner, but he has not wanted to act as stepfather or to be in her grown kids lives. I'm so fortunate that my husband has always thought of my two kids from my first marriage as his, and he is mourning the death of our older daughter as deeply as I. But then he has been with me since those kids were two and four. My friend's partner has only known her kids as independent adults. He has three kids of his own, and his parental feelings are exclusive to them. So she stands alone right now in her joy of her first grandchild, and her husband's absence is especially obvious right now. He would have been so proud and overjoyed.