“Hello!” my mentor exclaimed as I joined them. “I want to thank you!”
I stared at her. Why? What could she possibly be thanking me for? I had her to thank. Through her experience, I’d seen the smallness of my heart, and had been fully impacted by the knowledge that healing is reciprocal. Community heals individuals, and individuals heal community. But those insights were gained through first despising her. She couldn’t be thanking me for that!
“How about a hug? I think a hug is called for, don’t you?.” She approached me tentatively.
“Yes!” That, at least, I had no doubts about. She was so thin. I could feel all her bones. “It was so very brave of you what you did, what you shared… It’s so enormous the pain and loss that you must feel. I know…” I faltered, still clasping her, thinking she must be thinking ‘how could you possibly know?’ And it wasn’t the time to tell her: I know all too well about meaningless deaths, and the pain a sister: my daughter suffers. I continued, “such brave, courageous work that you did. I hope that it’s the beginning of a healing journey for you...”
“You helped me,” she said, as stepped apart.
“I did?”
“Yes, when you mentioned your mom. Then I decided, I’d talk about my experience.”
My mom? What had I said about my mom? Oh yeah, that I almost killed her. And somehow waving that skull and crossbones had freed my friend to speak of her brother’s death.
There it was again. Another unconscious, powerful healing joining me and my spiky-haired foe, friend, mentor. Some mysterious force between us had helped each to drop some of the crippling fear and anger blocking us. No random coincidence, it seemed, that each was pivotal in the other’s transformation. Call it synchronicity.
