Last week one of my co-workers died from suicide at the Golden Gate Bridge.
On the day I found out I drove from SF to Marin to attend a supportive gathering in his honor. This meant I had to drive over the bridge, which I felt very nervous about.
As I approached our city’s most iconic and majestic structure I was all ready to be in a tragic mood and have a real somber experience.
But then I ended up driving behind a convertible with a big dog riding in the backseat. The dog kept propping himself up and sticking his head high above the windshield. He bounced back and forth between head up with ears flapping in the wind to looking around at his human companions like “Isn’t this GREAT!???”
There was nothing to do but see the pure joy right in front of me.
This continued not just over the bridge but all the way to the exit for my office. When the car pulled off at my exit I knew I had just been guided by something very special.
(This is not the first time I have been escorted by a joyful dog all the way to the place I needed to go 💙)
I will always remember this trip over the bridge. It was a divine reminder that even in the places of our deepest sadness, joy is still there.
Being gifted with the energy of grace does not mean this loss is not sad and terribly hard — it just means it is not *only* sad and terribly hard.
Joy is STILL HERE.
If you have ever faced loss with an open heart then you know about the special bridge that links grief right to joy.
Sometimes the connection is clear, obvious and gleaming.
Other times it is cloaked in thick fog and very hard to see.
Sometimes the ride is quick and smooth and other times there is a whole lot of traffic.
No matter how the journey from grief to joy goes, one thing is always true— there is just something about the bridge that links them together that is undeniably MAJESTIC ❤️
I am so grateful to be deeply impacted by my coworker’s bright spirit and pray we are all visited by evidence of joy whenever we most need it.