Mid-Month

I did something a little 'off the beaten path' yesterday. I asked my Facebook friends --at least the ones who were willing-- to share their personal 'Worst Thing' moments or times. The times that were most challenging, heartbreaking, upsetting, life-changing. You get the point.

I didn't do this to be nosy or to pry or to try to out-worstify (sorry, I can't find the word I'm looking for there) anyone else's worst-ever event. No, I asked with precisely the opposite goal in mind: so I'd know that despite how things look on the outside, despite how shiny and happy everyone else seems to me in the wake of losing Logan, there isn't a single person out there who hasn't suffered some sort of pain during this life. It wasn't all about focusing on the bad; no, it was a way for me to look at the bad, and see how it's changed others for the better. To get a small outsiders' taste of another's journey.

I've heard from a good number of people. In a way, the results have surprised me. Some of the events shared broke my heart. Some of them made me gasp. But none of them --not a SINGLE ONE-- changed my view of the person who shared, except maybe to make her (and I can use 'her' here because every respondent has been female) look stronger. Like a survivor. And that's not a bad thing.

If you were one of those gals who took a risk and shared, thank you. I know it can be hard to trust someone else with your pain, but I'm glad you took a risk on me. It's totally cornball, I know, but your story has now become a stone laid down along my path to healing.