I'm a canvasser for an environmental organization. I go door to door fundraising and petitioning.

A few days ago I knocked on the door of a former member/donator to our group. She answered the door and I asked for her. The woman who answered was indeed the member, so I started to thank her for her support, and then she cut me off. She said it was too hard to talk at that moment, and she apologized to me with tears in her eyes, she was sorry she couldn't talk at the moment. It turned out she had discovered a loved one of hers had just died just minutes before, and she was with family. She had been crying and was trying so hard not to cry in front of me.

She kept apologizing and I just kept apologizing back. She couldn't hold in her tears, and honestly, neither could I. I just burst into tears with her on the porch. I've canvassed for many years of my life, but I've never had a situation quite like that (I've had people tell me they came back from a funeral, but they weren't grieving like this, I don't know how to explain it. Not that those people were lying or their grief isn't real or I didn't feel for them). She was apologizing to me for not being able to talk through her pain. It was also 12/31...so the holidays will always make her think of her loss, as will my organization coming to her door.

The only thing I can hope is that it maybe meant something that we shared that moment. I don't know her, I don't know her loved one, but damn if that made an impression on me. I know what it's like to lose a family member and be afraid to lose another.

Linda, I hope you weren't offended by my intrusion and I hope you understood that I when I cried I really meant it. I wish you the best.