About a week ago, a good friend of mine texted me in a panic, telling me he needed to talk to me and asked if he could pick me up. I asked him if he wanted to come meet me in a cafe near my work, but he said he needed privacy and asked if we could please just talk in his car. That’s when I knew something must be really wrong. I’d never gotten a text that seemed so frantic from him before, and I’ve never seen him cry before.

He picked me up, and when I opened the door and saw his face, I saw that his face was red, and tears were streaming down his face. I sat down immediately and put my hand on his shoulder. At the touch or my hand, his face started to contort, he was trying to suppress a sob. He put his hand to his face and pressed his fingers to his eyes, trying to hide his face, and I saw tears stream from beneath his hand.

I could tell he needed a minute just to breathe before he could tell me what was going on, he wasn’t able to speak and kept getting choked up. I let him know it was okay to take his time, that I was there. I gently rubbed his upper back and shoulders while he worked to gather himself to tell me what was going on. This lasted maybe 5 minutes, and then he started to explain. He wasn’t wiping his tears away at this point, so streams of them were pooled by his eyes. He started to explain, his eyes red and filled with tears the whole time. Every now and he wouldn’t be able to speak anymore, and would just stop talking, the corners of his mouth quivering, tears pouring out of his eyes. This was on and off for about half an hour. I must say, he’s a beautiful cryer.

Because we were in a car, which is kind of an awkward space physically, I wasn’t able to physically confort him and much as I wanted to, which I’m sad about.  But as the conversation went on and I felt him calm down, I tried my best to make him laugh. When he was able to leave, I gave him a long hug and we said goodbye.