hate to be the bearer of bad news, but what makes it so hard is how awful the other person feels. Through absolutely no fault of their own they’ve brought up the most painful thing in my life and they are often mortified. I feel terrible for them. It’s the kind of thing I would do too and then cringe about it while trying to fall asleep for the next ten years. So I do my best to relieve the awkwardness, saying things like “It’s okay,” which is a lie. It is not okay. It’s very sad, but we don’t have a way of talking about this without making it weird for everyone.
