Bridge Collapse

Since becoming a widow, I react to tragedies such as the Minneapolis bridge collapse in a different way than I would have before. I feel such a sense of empathy for those husbands and wives who will never see their partners alive again. I picture the children who will never again be tucked in by their mom or dad. I can feel in my heart, and in my gut, the anxiety of those waiting to hear if their loved one made it.

I also have a different reaction to those that survived. Watching tv this morning while on the elliptical machine, I began to sob. In public I was sobbing, and I didn't care. I was watching the survivors sharing their incredible survival stories, and their stories of being reunited with their families. And I was beyond happy for them, I really was. But I also felt for those newly widows and widowers. I know that they must be wondering why their spouses weren't spared. And I started wondering why certain people die, and others survive.

None of it seems fair. None of it.

-b