“Really listening is a very tender and generous gift.” Jan Karon
One of the greatest gifts you can give a widow is simply to sit and listen and so precious few offer us that gift. We have to talk. We need to talk. It’s the best way for us to process what has happened to us. It’s a way for us to find a new identity. It’s a way for us to close that last chapter in our lives with our husbands and begin a new book. We have so much on our hearts that simply MUST come out or we will explode.
A widow finds that after a month or so passes, everyone’s life goes on but ours. Others don’t understand why we cannot just move on. They tire of hearing us share things about our husband and we sense that. So, we clamp our mouths shut and suffer in silence because we don’t want to lose anyone else in our lives.
Please give us that gift of really listening as we share with you the most fragile things we have – our heart and our thoughts.
Reflections From My Porch Swing 
Jan Karon’s quote,
“Really listening is a very tender and generous gift,“ is a truth that goes unnoticed–or, sadly, avoided.
We can tell, like you said, when we’re not received. It is so painful…
Sitting in front of my previous husband’s casket many years ago, a man came up to me and asked if he could buy some of his clothing.
I felt—
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Yes, most people don’t want to listen. How very sad what that man did to you!!
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