Most of us do know someone who lost their parent early or relatively early.
For me, I was a full adult when I lost my mom, but my children were small (5 years old and almost 3), and it was incredibly sudden the way we lost her.
I grieved hard for her and lost myself for a while. I eventually went to a therapist to make sure I could heal especially for my children. I had scared myself with the depth of my grief. I am so grateful that I had my husband on my side, not sure how I would have made it through without him or the children.
Over the years, I learned to carry this loss, like many of us do. We make do. We count our blessings. From time to time, we are hit with a wave of more grief when we see a commercial about Mother’s Day or we see friends doing things with their moms, or even when we hear friends complaining about their moms. What we would give, we think, to be able to complain about her, to have that full relationship would mean she was still alive.
Now, 21 years after losing her, I am an older adult with adult children. I got through the years, and my husband and I made the most of them or tried to, and I got “used to” not having a mom. We have had a good full life and I am proud of the two humans we have raised.
