I’m amazed once again by the beautiful tenderness of others. It would have been so easy to dismiss my sorrow about losing my beloved auto Sadie as indulgent, disproportionate, even mad. Instead, I received so much gentle kindness yesterday. In some cases it was because others empathized with what I was mourning–the loss of insouciance; the loss of my grandfather (again); the loss of a dear friend, inanimate or not–but generally speaking it was simpler than that. Pain is pain, and to date nothing has robbed us of our basic impulse to tend to those who feel it. I am grateful.