By Joe Mazzella
Is it possible to mourn a friend you’ve never met? A friend of mine passed away recently. We never did get to meet in person. I first heard from her in a letter. She had been reading my stories in her local county paper and decided to write me and share her appreciation. I was so moved by her kindness and spirit of friendship that I wrote her back. That started a long correspondence between the two of us.
Being an older lady and not internet savvy she wrote me handwritten letters in beautiful cursive handwriting. Not being good at handwriting I typed up my responses on my computer and printed them off. I would share with her each new thing I wrote and she would often mail me back handmade posters of my writings in her lovely handwriting. I put each one of them on my walls so I could see them every day.
We also shared our lives together. I told her of my caring for my handicapped sons and she shared being taken care of by her loving daughters and grandson. We shared so much in the few years we wrote each other. During one letter she wrote that she had fallen and hurt her arm. After that her letters were less and she felt bad about that, but to me each one was a treasure. Each one touched my heart. And in each one the love and kindness of her soul shone through. Eventually her health worsened and the last few letters I got were from her daughter and not her. It broke my heart when she finally passed and I knew that this world had lost one of its special angels. We may have never met in person but we certainly did so in spirit.
Is it possible to mourn a friend you’ve never met? Yes it is. We are all connected in this life. We are all God’s children. We are all friends. We are all family. Don’t miss a single chance then to share your love and joy with others. It is what we are here for. It is what life is all about.
