Nothing makes you more tongue-tied than learning a friend, loved one, colleague, or neighbor is sick, in treatment, or bereaved. What can you say? And what do you do if you fear you’ve said something inappropriate? That’s what happened to a friend. She was worried she’d said the wrong thing to a sick friend and asked ”What can I do to make this right?” At first glance it doesn’t seem like a difficult question; just apologize. But there’s nothing simple about relationships and…

It’s something I’ll never forget. I was an adult student who recently returned to classes after the death of my newborn son. I was walking across campus and saw a classmate; he saw me too and before we could greet each other, he altered his path and avoided me. Decades later, I understand why he did it, but even so, the memory still stings.

Loss is very isolating and when you avoid someone experiencing loss, you isolate them even further. I’ve learned that most…