“The doctors think it’s cancer.” the familiar, soft-spoken voice struggled to make any sound. Those were the last few words my friend spoke before I got the dial tone. Her mom had been diagnosed with cancer, and there was nothing we could do about it. My eyes were as glassy as the windows I looked through. My lips tightened, helping me fight back tears. We were both in eighth grade at the time, and hardly had a care in the world until now.
The following week, school started, and I was expecting to discover my friend sitting in a corner with puffy red eyes that were watery at the edges, and a pass to the counselor’s office to help get her through her situation. But to my surprise she was the exact opposite. Her face was glowing with happiness, her smile was brighter than most days, and her eyes weren’t puffy, red, or watery. They matched her smile, and shined in the sun. She seemed perfectly fine.
“I’m surprised to see how strong you’ve been about this.” I hesitated, and glanced back at her face, afraid that I might have hurt her feelings. She didn’t respond. At that moment I squinted, expecting a sudden burst of tears. What was I thinking? How stupid of me to say something like that at a time like this. I could’ve even said, “How are you?” The awkward silence was gut wrenching.
Another moment went by before she could answer me. I continued to hold my breath, and kept my squinted eyes glued to my feet. “I love her too much to cry about it. She needs to be happy, and she wont be if she sees me cry.” The awkward silence was over, and I was able to breathe again. My friend was using the love for her mother to stay strong, and happy. I took my eyes off my feet, and looked back up at her. She was being honest, I was sure. My legs felt as wobbly as Jell-O when I leaned over to give her a hug.
She wasn’t ever angry about her situation, and I never heard her cry since the day I got that phone call. I’ve never seen her shed a tear that wasn’t out of joy, and I believe it’s because love allows us to be strong, so that we may conquer the battles that we face. For my friend, it allowed her to be brave when she was scared that she could lose her mother to cancer. Love was her crutch that held her up in the midst of it all. Love helped her conquer…