I remember it so clearly. It was a cold, crisp winter day when I picked up my son (then 7) after school. I could tell he was upset by something. On our walk home, he didn’t say much but he did share that “something happened with Evan”, one of his friends.
And I could tell that he was hurting.
I listened to him some more and we talked about options:
1. He could try to forget about it.
2. We could talk about it some more together and he could think about it and decide what (if anything) to do about it later.
3. We could walk back to the school and he could try to talk to Evan now.
He chose #3.
So we walked back over the school and I waited on the sidewalk while he approached Evan who was still in the playground.
I don’t know what they talked about and I can’t even remember what the problem was. What I do remember is what he said to me on our walk home:
“Mom, the black in my throat is gone now!”
Have you ever had “black in your throat”? It’s a very vulnerable act to approach to someone who has hurt you to talk about it.
But it can take the black away.