"Susan's going to be alright because her daddy loves her."

She tried to hold back her tears and take it in. Yet the lump in her throat refused to lessen as she tried to swallow it away.

She could be strong. She could suppress her feelings. She could be the strong one.

But her father. Those words.

Those words transported her to over 20 years ago, when her mother died. The pain had dulled and yet occasionally imposed itself on her. When Shelagh was a child, passing the days without her mother was heart-wrenching, but emotionally losing her father was heart-breaking. All young Shelagh wanted, even needed, was to know that she was loved. A response, any response, would have sufficed. Maybe a hug before she went to sleep, or joining her in their morning song before breakfast like they used to. Her mother's love left, along with the fierceness, sureness, and dependency of it. Such a loss was difficult enough to bear with, but finding stable ground after such support is departed is infinitely difficult. Yet losing her father's strength as well added weight to the stake driven through her heart. It was almost as if her father's ability to love was tied to her mother's presence.

Her father's inability to reciprocate her expressions of love in an attempt to remain stoic and composed caused her some emotional trauma that she sometimes still struggles to overcome in her relationship Patrick. The fear of rejection threatened to surface at times, and Patrick always did his very best to make her aware that he and his love for her would never leave. She was very well acquainted with unrequited love, the fullness of giving and the ubiquitous emptiness of the lack of reception. It was what drew her to the religious life. Shelagh felt God's unconditional love, and knew that she could spend her whole life serving Him as a sort of tithe to him, returning a portion of the infinite love He gives her. But God changed her life when He made her aware of a particular group of His creation that He wanted her to pay special attention to. Shelagh now knew what it was like to receive the love she gave, and it was marvelous.

But those words brought her back. And the memory of the pain was poignant enough to bring her to tears.

Shelagh prayed that precious Susan would be alright; that Susan would find love in her family and one day in her very own Patrick, as a friend or as a partner in life.

Her prayer was accompanied by a resolution. She had been making many of these in the past few years, and felt no need to stop. She would never withhold her love from her loved ones. There is too much unexpressed love in the world, and she had first-hand experience of the power of expression, even with a chaste kiss on the hand or and long bout of yearning and adoring eye contact. Maybe her father could not explicitly show her his love, but love comes in many forms and from many sources, including divine. She would let her loved-ones know that they didn't always have to be the strong ones, for together even the weak are strong.