Someone I Do Not Know

I'm sitting here crying for someone I do not know...
Their story just came across my feed...
An accident, an injury, a brain bleed...
Terms I know too well on a path I've traveled too long..

My heart hurts and I don't even know their name...
I'm crying with parents, loved ones and friends...
Knowing that the pain and grief never ends...
Now I'm praying for someone I don't even know... never knew before...

My eyes turn loose of tears I'd held in from my own pain...
As I remember the early parts of my own journey...
I know what they can endure - what they may face...

Those long days of hoping, praying, believing...
Long nights just watching them keep breathing...
Don't stop.... please don't stop...

 Then there's the waiting...
Dark nights, warm tears, terrible coffee...
Uncertainty abounds - so many ifs...

 If there's a future what does it look like now?
If dreams are still valid...
If there's life after this...
If there's anything outside a waiting room... a hospital room...
If home exists... where do I fit...
If my loved one will ever speak, walk, wake, or move again...

What does life look like from the waiting room?
How can I find certainty for tomorrow when today's breath is already gone?
No thinking about tomorrow, this afternoon, or one minute away - only waiting...
Surviving one second at a time looking for one more breath to arise... hopefully
In me - in them - what is life anyway?

I'm hurting all over again for someone I do not know...
Someone like me...
So I pray - they find peace...
They find hope...
They get the answers they want but have grace to trust and deal with the ones they didn't want...

This someone I don't know - gets lots of prayers - but they will never know...

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