I was just placing the baby wipes in the trolley when I felt something brush my shoulder. I turned to find an elderly lady standing beside me just looking at the portrait of Olivia on my shoulder.

“She looks like you” she said.
I smiled

“Who is it” the lady asked.

“My late daughter” I replied.

There again was that awkward silence when people stay quiet not sure what to say.

“She was beautiful”

“I’m so sorry”.

There in the supermarket aisle this little old ladies eyes filled with tears.

“I’m so sorry”.

I don’t know what to say at moments like this.

“It’s ok” isn’t how I feel. Yet a stranger doesn’t really need to know the pain of my heart.

It’s not the place to tell her that I still cry myself to sleep at night.

That everything reminds me of her.

No it’s not the place.

So I smile a little and say

“We were so blessed”.

At this the lady holds my hand and squeezes it a little.

I don’t know that lady and I’m sure we won’t meet again but that squeeze meant so much.

She didn’t try to say it would be ok.

She didn’t offer me any platitudes

She just offered me love.

No questions need no answers

But the acknowledgment just blessed my heart.

I don’t think there is a right thing to say to a grieving mother.

But the acknowledgement of the loss means so very much.