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The Gift of Presence

I like being active and doing things and helping people (usually) and solving problems (always).

But sometimes things can't be fixed, for one reason or another. That is difficult for me to handle.

In the past few months, I have been hearing over and over, and slowly grasping, the profound value of presence. Often, simply BEING THERE is the best gift possible.

When there are no words or solutions or even identifiable problems, reality is made bearable when someone else is there. When they say, "I love you." or "I'm really sad about this too." or "I wish I could fix this. I can't. But I'm not going anywhere," it validates that yes, life is crap, things are broken, I don't understand it either, but you are not alone.

Often, that is the one thing that keeps us together and gives us hope.

And WHO KNOWS how any of this messiness will turn out? I certainly don't. But I'm along for the ride, and when sorrow gives way to celebration (I believe it always can, eventually), we are going to par-tay.

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