"The Mother of Another"

“The Mother of Another….”

A group of twenty-somethings gathered in a mountain town for a wedding. Joy and anticipation fill the air. Stories began, all kinds of stories: adventurous, scary, light-hearted. A young man reaches deep to tell a story about the brother he misses. Close friends know the brother’s been dead for years. The story recounts fond memories of the outdoors they loved: fishing, mile-long bicycle wheelies, 4-wheeling, and an old beat up Ford truck that muscled through the woods & sprayed mud everywhere in its wake. When the story ends… a brief hush falls upon the group until the air is once again alive with memories of the next storyteller. The brother though, slips away noticed only by one. He is hoping not to betray a sadness that is welling within. In the shadows of the setting sun, the tears that begin to form are private…spotted only by the one. She’s the “mother of another”. She sees the signs of sadness and her heart goes out to the brother who’s distanced himself from his friends. A sob, a shudder of sorrow threatens to spasm upon his back. All this, she takes in. Then, without hesitation, she has him wrapped up tightly in her arms. They don’t really know one another. And yet, in this offering of comfort, the brother’s sorrow bursts forth fully, uncontained and unabashed. Until tonight, he’d said little about the brother he missed so much. Tonight, the good memories and the sadness of loss, met head on. The mother said nothing, only squeezed him tightly & gently patted his back. For a moment, he was lost and broken, until “the mother of another” shared the medicine that almost always cures everything… the touch of loving kindness.