What To Say When Someone Dies

No one really knows what to say to someone when their loved one dies. You can say, "You're in my thoughts and prayers," and maybe that's true. Maybe you actually know what to think or pray on that person's behalf. Personally, I'm never sure.

You can tell them that you'll be there for them -- that you're their middle-of-the-night-phone-call friend, and promise to sleep with the phone near your bed. You can write them a With Sympathy card and let Hallmark say something in lofty cursive and sign your name with love. Or make a digital card with organ music to have a more flashy effect. You can go to the funeral and wake and talk about all the good memories of their loved one, memorialize them with a slide show, give a toast, even ease the pain with some good jokes.

You can bring them soup. Bone soup, if you've been there. If you know how hard it is to eat when you are in emotional triage. It gets physical fast. And every bite needs to hold health.

You can use social media to show support, post by post. But do you "Like" an announcement of death? Do you "Share" it? Do you "Comment?" It's all a way of observing your friend's loss. But in the same place you share about what you ate for breakfast?

You can give them books: A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis, in which the minister rages against the loss of his beloved wife, himself, his God, and Who Dies, by Stephen Levine, especially Chapter 8, where he goes deeply into Grief as an ultimate vehicle of liberation, saying, "We are dropped into the very pit of despair and longing...an initiation often encountered along the fierce journey toward freedom, spoken of in the biographies of many saints and sages." But most people are not open to that journey in the first place, and certainly not when their hearts are shattered into splintered shards.

The truth is, and it hurts in the worst way... that ultimately, the mourner will be alone in their grief, and who wants to say that? Who wants to bear the news that soon...people will stop thinking, praying, liking, sharing, commenting, bringing soup, and sending cards, emails and books. Even the phone calls and texts will fall away. The unspoken reality is: People go back to their lives and you are alone. You are in a club that you never wanted to be in. And that's when you watch Renee Fleming singing "Walk On" over and over on YouTube as loud as you can. And eventually...you do. You absorb the grief. And you start to see the "golden sky" she's singing about. But you never get over your loss. Never.

There is the opportunity, however, to use it. If you're in the club, you might as well be a steady and gracious club member. I'm in the club. And recently, one of my dear friend's beloved husband dropped dead out of nowhere. She'd lost her grandparents in their old age. No one else. She was bereft. She asked me to write her a list of things that would help her, based on a phone call we'd shared. Her mind was in a triage fog, my words were helpful to her, and she wanted to remember them.

Here is what I wrote. I offer it to you, if you are a new member of this club. You are not alone. And I offer it to you if you are one of those people wondering what to think, pray, say...do:

• First of all: Breathe. I mean it. That's your most important tool to stay in the present, out of fear, and to sustain yourself. You will find yourself holding your breath. Try to stay aware of your breath no matter what and keep breathing...in...out...in...out. Deeply if you can. Little sips when deep is too hard.

That's enough for now. The main thing is to be gentle with yourself. I love you so. And the love you two shared will never ever go away. He is Love now and he is all around you and in you. If you can't feel him, feel Love and you will be feeling him.

Hope that helps. You can do this. I am here for you. I promise. If only just to listen to your tears and let you know you are not alone.

Love,
Laura

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