'Let them.' The small bit of advice that made a big difference to a grieving widow
toggle caption Connie Sherburne
In 2020, Connie Sherburne's husband of 31 years, Peter, died in a crash while piloting their small plane.
Sherburne, a practical person, immediately focused on what needed to be done.
"I went home that evening, and the next morning, I got up and I thought, 'Hit the ground running. You've got all this to take care of.'"
She drove to their insurance company in Escondido, Calif., to transfer the insurance for Peter's truck into her name. Because of the pandemic, the office was staffed by just one person. The woman opened the door to let Sherburne inside, and they sat across from each other at a desk.
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"It didn't take her but a few minutes to take care of why I was there," Sherburne recalled.
"When she got done, she stopped and she looked at me across her desk, and she made sure that I was looking at her — that she had my full attention."
"And she said, 'OK, so now that we've finished with that, people are going to stop and ask you, "How can I help?"' And then she gave this pregnant pause, and she said, 'Let them.'"
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