I recently encountered an aunt who I hadn't seen in fifteen years, not since my grandmother's funeral. As I walked by the pew she sat in, we silently acknowledged one another with a slight movement of our heads. Then she looked down and sobs overtook her. My heart broke for her as her body became engulfed in her sadness. I have no idea what her relationship was like with her sister who was now gone from this physical world, but what I did know in that moment was that she was grieving for her desperately.
I was pulled to sit down next to her by some invisible force. I hesitantly put my arm around her shoulder and her head fell into the crook of my neck, her body resting against mine. I should have felt awkward and uncomfortable; instead, all I felt was that if my presence could alleviate even a minuscule part of her pain, I would sit there for as long as she needed. I don't know how many minutes we stayed there, me rubbing her back gently as her sobs subsided into a mere whisper of tears. As we sat together, I did not think of the decades lost, of the love I pined for as a child from my aunts and uncles. I did not think of the past, nor of the future.
What went through my mind was this: This is our purpose. To be there for one another. To remember that we are one -our joys and our sorrows. To be human to one another. To be present. To be Love.
