Stretched like an Elastic

I met a still young woman the other day.

This young woman had experienced the profound grief of unexpectedly losing a partner. She and her young man had met in grade school. They were friends from the start, confided and relied on each other and their relationship over the years flourished. Folks who believe in reincarnation would believe that they had met “previously”, so close and in sync they were. In hind sight, the same people said “ahh” that is why they met again, and lived well in the time they were allotted.

They were barely more than children when he proposed at the end of a softball game in front of family and friends. Their wedding was planned.

In a tragic case of the perfect storm of events, his life was taken from him on a clear and starry night a few weeks later.

This young woman described her reaction as her heart being wrenched out of her body. Grabbed, twisted and yanked out.

She sat with hair unwashed and in a sweatshirt for weeks looking through old photos. She did not have the energy to move from her bed to the fridge. Well-meaning friends and family brought food in baskets and wrapped in tin foil. They returned at intervals to empty the fridge of spoiled and uneaten food. They worried about her mind, that she had been stretched beyond her ability to cope.

However, one year later the young woman whom I met was smiling. She is testament to the strength inside each of us, although her planned life was torn to shreds in a blink of an eye. She said that she felt like she was stretched like an elastic until the hurt was almost unbearable.

But slowly, the elastic let go of its hold on her and she was able to reach a new normal. Remember her, whatever you are going through. You do have the resiliency and the strength too. Just acknowledge that there is pain and slowly it too will release its hold on you.

You too can be stretched but refuse to snap.