Dear Reader:

Well, there’s the Cuomos, I know, but Anderson’s my man. Always has been. Now more than ever, I’m glad he has a platform and an audience. He understands loss and that’s enough for me as we’ve passed over 50,000 deaths in this country in the past couple of months.

I just sobbed through his interview with a woman who lost her 32-year-old husband to Coronavirus. The widow is the mother of two just beginning to ponder the life her children will lead without the presence of their father. Anderson was unable to keep his composure. He cried along with the woman, but offered her valuable insight. He knows what it means to lose a father when one is young.

He offered hope to the grieving widow that her children could come to know their father, in a way, through her stories. “They will know him through you,” he assured her.

This is what Anderson Cooper does whenever lives are lost. He tells the stories of those who are gone or gives an opportunity for loved ones to tell those stories. And, I believe, that is the single most important gift you can give to anyone who has loved and lost.

I have loved and I have lost. I’m 60-years-old and the three most significant events in my life happened decades ago. I met and married my husband and gave birth to an amazing daughter. Then, I lost my 36-year-old baby brother and first best friend to cancer. That was 20 years ago and yet I still feel the need, the desire, to tell the story of his life. I’ve written about him here on this platform. My husband knew him in life. My daughter knows him through me. He will live in some way through me always.

I have not lost anyone to the pandemic, but it is a sad reminder of the weight of grief. I watch and read the news with a heavy heart each day. If you are mourning a new loss or an old one, you are not alone.

Michele