Hi! I am Carolina and I live in Argentina. I lived a year and a half in New York but still there are cultural things that I don't know how to handle. Last Monday my grandfather passed away and I sent an e-mail to my friends that live in the US and other countries, the ones from US answered me immediately with very thoughtful messages and I was wondering if it is correct for me to answer them back, if they expect me to do that or not. What do you usually do in these cases? Thank you very much for reading this. I would really appreciate some help. Carolina.

Carolina, please accept my heartfelt condolences on the loss of your grandfather. I know how difficult losing a family member can be. So do your friends. Honey, your friends don't expect an email in return. They are offering their condolences. When we send Sympathy cards through the mail, people don't expect a response from the person they are sending it to, so it works the same way with e-mail.

However, if you feel compelled to send a few of them a response because something they wrote touched your heart, by all means do so, and let them know that you appreciate their words.

Again, I am so very sorry for your loss.