HAPPY

Pic taken 1999 on Great Northern Highway. Our car to the left.
Ingo just finished cooking when the rain set in - we sat in the back of the car munching away then.

Yesterday I was reminded to really enjoy every day we have.

I wanted to check on my Amazon-parcel (at work, I admit) and there was an e-mail I never would´ve expected.
It was from ... a "former friend".
She´s at VW and kinda dropped me when the project there ended.

She took an old, private e-mail Thursday very late, a mail from 2015 where I´d told her Ingo came out of MRI OK and even has booked a holiday and that her pressie from the Advendcalendar will be used as diary. The notebook had a cite from Voltaire as title:

"Since it's good for your health, I decided to be HAPPY."

To this e-mail she kinda answered.
She said it´s difficult to manage work and the twins and last year has been tough.
One girl was sick often, also in hospital, she was having a hard time turning 40 and the year ended "awful". In October she and the kids found the hubby lifeless.
Sudden cardiac death at age 42.
The kids force her to go on, there are people helping her, she can keep the house, life goes on.
That she´s not sure to reach me via this address still. And "I really hope Ingo and you are fine. Many greetings from P"

Like a short news.
Or a cry for help, I don´t know.
She did not put up a question.

Now I have to think about what to do apart from being thankful even more for our health (the way it is in Ingo´s case).

By golly.
It must be awful to just find your partner like that. As it is to loose your partner after a long sickness.

I asked ex-teamleader (we´re still in contact via e-mail daily). He said forget she´s been a crappy friend, offer help, look after the kids (haha, me, 4-y-o twins...!) or offer to meet, but not the casual "I´m there if you need me"-thing but a proper date.
Friend H suggested to answer shortly but not offer.

What do I do?
I forgive way too easy anyways, that´s not the problem. Or is it? Sometimes I feel like the old cleaning rag you only use when all the good ones are in the laundry...

Do I have the strength to offer help to a young widow with young kids?
I´m not the type of person who offers half-hearted, so... But maybe she just needs someone online - we´ve done that loads.
Our friendship went from seeing each other work-wise every day to daily private e-mails aside the work-e-mails with the occasional meet-ups.
Then only Birthdays/Advendcalendar, then only private e-mails, then nothing for over a year now.

She doesn´t live around the corner anymore, which makes the decision even harder.

More advice welcome.
Guess Bro´d say no as I was having a kind of hard time being there for ex-teamleader on the long journey his girlfriend had to take...