You have the PERFECT response…I’m sorry for your loss!!! There’s NO reason to say any more because your sympathy is the most that you can offer them at the time. Then wait about a month & send a sympathy card saying _Still thinking of you. Is there anything that I can do?_Then be prepared to “listen” to what they are feeling or thinking…just let them talk & be there for them!!!
Everybody grieves in a different way, so allow them to do it in their OWN time!!! Whatever you do, do NOT try to tell them HOW to grieve as it their personal experience & you are there just to SUPPORT them!!!
I heard a lady in a store comment that although she appreciated everybody’s thoughts of sympathy when her Mom had died, that she had been so much in shock at the time that she didn’t know how to receive their offers of sympathy. She said it was a month later that everything begin to sink in & she really needed their thoughts. That why I said wait about a month to send the sympathy card. According to this lady, it means a LOT more once the initial shock wears off!!! Think back to the death, the person is in shock & suddenly having to deal with the funeral BEFORE the shock becomes the reality. At the point of the reality setting in is when friends might need you most.
I’m a very private person when it comes to my grieving process. My BFF always insists that I “need to get through it”. Well, I don’t want to just “get through it”!!! I’m NOT one to be sad & melodramatic. I prefer to remember the good old days & smile every time that I think of them. There is NO way that you could help me to get to that point other than to listen!!!
I’m sorry for your loss is a GREAT beginning thought. Just be prepared to offer your ear a few weeks or so later. Let your friend guide you as to when “they need to talk” & be prepared to listen intently!!! Be a good friend & DON’T try to “fix it” for them…allow them to KNOW what it is that ”“they need”. I said all that simply to say BE A GOOD FRIEND!!!