How are you?
This is how I felt (and still do) when people asked me how I was doing the week my mom died. Even now when people ask me that with a sympathetic look on their face I want to respond with, "How do you think I'm doing?" But I figure that isn't the best option, and most of them truly have my best interest at heart and are genuinely concerned. I caught myself asking the same stupid question Friday. The mother of my high school drama teacher has been pretty sick the past four months. So when we got to talking, he mentioned she was in the hospital and I asked, "How is she?" I paused, realized what I said and followed it with, "Well she's in the hospital. She's probably not good, huh?"
People say the stupidest things when they talk to someone who lost a loved one. The current religion teacher at my grade school started talking about how hard it's going to be for my youngest sister, going through menopause without my mom (yes, she really said that). Then of course she realized Maria's a tad young to be going through menopause and switched to puberty. I didn't have the heart to tell her that Maria's already hit puberty. It seemed so obvious to me; I figured it was equally obvious to everyone else. One woman came up to me at the reception after the funeral and said, "I know this week has been hard, but it's only going to be harder." I'm sorry, is that supposed to help me? It's pretty obvious that my life has been completely changed, but I fail to see how that statement makes it any easier for me. There were times that I had to remind myself, "These people mean well. They truly love you and your family. They just don't know what to say."
Evidently I have some pent-up anger. I definitely need to hit up the gym today.
People say the stupidest things when they talk to someone who lost a loved one. The current religion teacher at my grade school started talking about how hard it's going to be for my youngest sister, going through menopause without my mom (yes, she really said that). Then of course she realized Maria's a tad young to be going through menopause and switched to puberty. I didn't have the heart to tell her that Maria's already hit puberty. It seemed so obvious to me; I figured it was equally obvious to everyone else. One woman came up to me at the reception after the funeral and said, "I know this week has been hard, but it's only going to be harder." I'm sorry, is that supposed to help me? It's pretty obvious that my life has been completely changed, but I fail to see how that statement makes it any easier for me. There were times that I had to remind myself, "These people mean well. They truly love you and your family. They just don't know what to say."
Evidently I have some pent-up anger. I definitely need to hit up the gym today.