in perspective

just when i am at my lowest point of the week, just when i am missing my mother so much it fairly hurts, just when i think this is what grief will be for a long time, i get a lovely message of condolence from an old student. now grown, he graciously tells me he knows how i am feeling since he and his wife have recently lost a daughter. a child, in the midst of her life. amazing how another's tragedy, far, far worse than any i can comprehend, can jar one back into some semblance of what is normal and accepted. incredible how brave some people must be.