Welcome to Bloganuary. It’s this thing that WordPress is doing to encourage bloggers to post something every day by providing a regular prompt. I think that “Bloguary” would not only sound better but makes more sense. Maybe they’re saving that for next month. But if they go with Blogebruary I’m dropping out. Anyway, today’s prompt asks the question: Can you share a positive example of where you’ve felt loved?

I don’t want to go too deep into this one because if I do I’m sure I’ll cry. I really don’t want to cry today. Been dealing with a migraine since I woke up this morning and crying will just make it worse…

But I’ve never felt the kind of love that I felt from others around the time when my dad passed away. The outpouring of love and compassion and sympathy that came from friends and family was unbelievable and I’m so grateful for those who stood with me in the weeks following that tragic Friday night.

At the time, I’d been living with Dad. Technically, I was renting the makeshift basement apartment to help him with expenses. It helped me, too, since the rent was super cheap, making it possible to make pointless student loan payments. So when he passed, I really didn’t want to stay there for a while. One of my college friends who lived here in town let me crash on his couch for the next two weeks, no questions.

The first night I spent at this friend’s apartment, two other college friends came into town and stayed there with me. We played midnight tennis in an effort to just take my mind off of things. These friends grew in number when it was time for the pre-funeral viewing at the funeral home. About a dozen or so of these Bluefield alumni circled around me, hiding me from the larger crowd when they could tell I couldn’t handle people-ing anymore.

I’m grateful that several of these people are still in my life, more than 17 years later. I’m grateful to know that these are the kind of people who would drop anything at any time to be there for me if I needed them. I hope they know that I would do the same for them…