The perfect thing to say
Last week, at an appointment with S, we got to chatting about a friend and the difficulties she is having. I told S I had let our friend down when the going got tough because my response to her difficulties was inappropriate and S said, “Well Rachel, sometimes people are thrown off by the situation and don’t respond correctly.” And she gave me an example of when one of her customers was in and was very excited about getting married, and then in again and excited about being pregnant, and then in again, and S has asked about the baby and learned that the woman had miscarried and had responded, “It’s for the best.”
S said she felt horrible because she should have said I’m sorry and not miscarriages happen for a reason because that is not what the woman needed to hear right then. So then S and I turned to chatting about what was up with us and she said, “Have you met a man?” with that sly Brazilian smile of hers and I said, “Well actually, I met a woman.” And I told her the highlights of me and T and then followed with, “S, who’d thought I would wind up being so happy with a woman.”
Her response was, “Well Rachel, nobody is perfect.”