The quiet ride home after a loss, with someone who didn’t try to fix it, is its own kind of gift.

Most people respond to somebody else’s bad night by trying to solve it. Advice, perspective, a reason it was not that bad, all of it delivered fast because the other person’s silence is uncomfortable to sit in. Someone who can be next to you and say nothing is doing something harder than helping. They are letting the loss be a loss without hurrying you out of it.

When a friend has a rough one, resist the fixing. Drive them somewhere, get food, say almost nothing and stay anyway. If you are the one who lost, let somebody be there without needing them to make it better.