This last week or so...

has been very rough for Julie, a very close friend of mine and Darren's. Her on again off again partner of 4 years took his own life on the 20th August... which has affected all of us in different ways. We {as in myself and Darren} weren't close to him as we've only met him a few times, she moved away years ago so social gatherings have been few to say the least! But... he suited her. He was strong enough to cope with her determined personality... and we knew him well enough to be shocked by it, but are grieving more for her loss than ours.
She's been staying with his family which I was glad to hear... and even though we wanted her here with us so we knew she'd be safe, we realised to be with and grieve with his family was far more important, for her as well as them.
She's gone home this morning... but stayed with us last night. She's so all over the place and I felt so useless... this is one thing I couldn't advise on... couldn't fix for her... can't make better for her... I have no life experiences to help her through this. But she relaxed a little... had a little bit of quiet time before fronting the storm again when she gets back to their home town. So we've helped in a small way. Letting her go is always so hard even under normal happy circumstances... but knowing what she has to face over the next few weeks and months it was even harder this time.
Andy... I hope you are at peace... for her sake as well as yours.