Helpless

In case you don't know, we have lived in 4 states and 6 addresses since being married 7 years ago.  We lived in the first state the longest, and still have many friends there.  This could prove important if we ever get transferred back there.   We aren't the kind of people who make lots of friends wherever we go, and it took most of the 3 years we lived in Michigan to make the kind of friends we have there.  

Yesterday B.A.R. called me to tell me that a friend of ours had been arrested.  ARRESTED?!?!?  I will save you (and them) the details.  I did get to talk to his wife last night and learn the story from the source. This has turned their life upside down (just imagine not going home so you don't have to talk to the media camped on your front lawn).  The ward there has been/is great.  They all have stepped in and helped out, but it doesn't make the whole situation go away.  

I want to be there to help.  These people were so good to me when I needed help.  These people did great things for me in good times and bad.  I am here and they are there, and I can't help them.  I can't run their errands.  I can't do their laundry.  I can't feed their kids.  I can't be a character witness.  I feel totally helpless.  

Yesterday neither of the adults at my house could think of anything else.  I spent all afternoon convincing myself it would be a bad thing to call them (and then they called me).  We spent the evening wondering what we could do to make this feeling go away.  This feeling is the feeling that the whole thing is wrong, and rubs me the wrong way.  I just can't get over it, and I can't distract myself from it by helping them.