I read words. I write words. Sometimes I speak words. Sometimes even in other languages. Follow along for all the updates!
PB&J #10: First Steps and Grief Friends Matter
One of the first things I did after the medical examiner pronounced death was alert my clients about my indefinite unavailability. Later, I asked Jon Acuff's Facebook community for soundtracks (name of his book) about processing sudden death. Many members offered their condolences, stories, and resources like this song which became my lullaby for many nights to come.
Just this weekend, as I was worrying I hadn't yet figured out how I was going to describe Kristian's friendship and support here, I came across this post entitled grief friend:
Kristian is a Colombian grief friend of mine. We met on a Duolingo forum in October 2020. Since then, we've co-hosted 100+ voice sessions in our language-learning Discord community. It's quite impressive how much more English he learned on his own over the pandemic than through years of formal classes.
Yet when I shared the news, he hoped that his late-night "message won't bother me and that I manage to see through all his non-so-decent grammar what he means and how much he appreciates me."
Funny guy, he.
Should we tell him about the grammar mistake?
When we resumed the Discord calls two weeks later, it felt good to reflect on the day's events, out loud, with non-relatives, for the first time. And bond over our first funerals and related traditions.
We still have our calls on most Mondays and Fridays, but Mondays are dedicated to language-learning and the server, and Fridays are dedicated to The Unnamed Project and the accountability partnership.
And now, I have a question for you. Next week do you want to learn more about whatever this "unnamed project" is, or something along the lines of "2 can play Robbie's game?" Just respond to this email with your vote.
Gurleen Deol
I read words. I write words. Sometimes I speak words. Sometimes even in other languages. Follow along for all the updates!
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