How Can We Build and Nurture our Circle of Support?

Last April, my brother passed away suddenly after being in an accident. He was 55 years old and my only sibling. In the days and weeks that followed, I subsisted in a foggy state—unsure how to process the events and unable to make even the smallest decision. And everywhere I turned, there was a friend, a family member, or someone from one of my micro-communities—neighbors, members of my meditation group, people from my synagogue—stopping by to lend an ear and maybe a shoulder, cook a meal for my family, and check in to see if there was something I needed.

Those people—the ones who both held me up and held my hand during those dark, incomprehensible days—are my choir. They are the same people with whom, in happier times, I can dance, share a bottle of wine, talk politics, walk my dog and do yoga. I have never been so grateful to have them.