Trigger warning: discussion involving suicide.
I just watched a beautiful movie. It was called “The Friend” and it was about a lady writer who lost a good friend and mentor to suicide. He wills her his massive dog, Apollo – a great Dane. She lives in a tiny apartment.
Anyway, it gave me an idea and I wanted to know what you think about it.
The idea was to write a letter for a friend of mine who lost her daughter to suicide. It was kind of a writing exercise for me but might me cathartic for her. Do I have a right? Would it be unkind?
What if she has expressed feelings that reading my letter might address? She could always burn it after she read it if I’m off base or totally wrong. But I know her pretty well. I don’t think I am…wrong.
I won’t do it -won’t show her this letter I wrote for her if you think it’s a bad idea. But the movie is about writer’s block in a way. She was trying to write a book with a friend about her dead friend. After some time with Apollo, she grows to understand many things, but mostly that now she can’t live without the dog.
So she writes the book in the form of letters to her dead friend about him and about Apollo and how much she missed of his life and puppyhood. It cured her writer’s block and she and Apollo got a new lease on life.
My friend’s daughter committed suicide when my kids were little. Maybe so much time has passed, I should leave it alone. It made me cry writing it, so maybe it was only cathartic for me. I mean, I was shocked and hurt too when it first happened. My kids had been friends with her, so they were also very torn up. It might even be why my youngest son cannot get over his breakups.
So what say you? Put it in the comments and I promise I will take your advice, good or bad. Right or wrong.
Of course, who is to say what’s right or wrong except God? I wonder if she is with Him. I wonder if she asked forgiveness in the last minute. She was allegedly on drugs when she did it. There were theories that she was murdered for a while, but that was floated after the funeral. Her death certificate says suicide. Only He knows.
I pray that she is. Because I want my friend to be reunited with her when she gets to heaven. I know for sure she will be there. ☺️

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