I have lived long enough to know that this world works in mysterious ways! It can often seem lonely as we each travel our allotted journeys along solitary life paths. Past burdens have, for me sometimes become unbearable- and yet just as I reach breaking point a supporting hand from a friend can be just enough to save my stumble. However sometimes that hand belongs to stranger. I can recall the faces of several who  saved me at my toughest moments. It was not their profound words or heroic deeds- but the fact that they sat along side me for a short while, as a friend.

Recently on our travels my husband and I found ourselves on a costal path with two people coming towards us. Our dogs greeted each other and we smiled . It could have ended there but one exchanged comment lead to another. The recent death of a partner after sixty years of marriage and the first return to a place of great meaning for the couple left the family I met in a place of grief and bewildering pain. I am greatful to have had the chance to repay some of the strangers’kindness shown to me in my time of need. Bereavement is something that I know of. All I had to do on this occasion was to listen to another human being . For five minutes on the side of that path I was able to be the stranger’s hand offering the hand of support along the way.