RetiredUSNChief
Member
My parents died under different circumstances many years ago. They were both in their 70s.
When they died, it hit hard of course. I likened it to the death of an immortal...after all, that's how we view our parents as we grow up, right? We never really consider the fact thay they will someday die until one day reality hits us and their mortality finally sinks in.
I grieved, of course. But in the process of greiving, I realized I had no regrets. Not because I didn't feel the pain of their passing (which I most certainly did), but because I realized my parents had gotten everything out of life that they ever wanted.
They built a home together...raised five children to adulthood. Knew several grandchildren. Perservered over innumerable challenges from their births in the early 1920s to their deaths in the 1990s. Were never a burden to others and always helped family and friends. They loved and were loved.
When it all boils down, you can't get much more out of life than that, really.
If you can say the same about your parents, then you'll come to understand that your mourning for them is rooted in all that was good about them and the pain you feel is because they touched your life and the lives of so many others in a very special way. And that's really a happy, healthy thing.
It seems too many people have regrets around their parents deaths. Perhaps some of those are real and perhaps some are just lingering feelings of self doubts and guilt.
Me? I have no regrets. How, and why, should I when my parents acheived their dreams? I should be so blessed when my own time comes.
I suspect this may be true for you, as well.
My prayers for you and yours.
When they died, it hit hard of course. I likened it to the death of an immortal...after all, that's how we view our parents as we grow up, right? We never really consider the fact thay they will someday die until one day reality hits us and their mortality finally sinks in.
I grieved, of course. But in the process of greiving, I realized I had no regrets. Not because I didn't feel the pain of their passing (which I most certainly did), but because I realized my parents had gotten everything out of life that they ever wanted.
They built a home together...raised five children to adulthood. Knew several grandchildren. Perservered over innumerable challenges from their births in the early 1920s to their deaths in the 1990s. Were never a burden to others and always helped family and friends. They loved and were loved.
When it all boils down, you can't get much more out of life than that, really.
If you can say the same about your parents, then you'll come to understand that your mourning for them is rooted in all that was good about them and the pain you feel is because they touched your life and the lives of so many others in a very special way. And that's really a happy, healthy thing.
It seems too many people have regrets around their parents deaths. Perhaps some of those are real and perhaps some are just lingering feelings of self doubts and guilt.
Me? I have no regrets. How, and why, should I when my parents acheived their dreams? I should be so blessed when my own time comes.
I suspect this may be true for you, as well.
My prayers for you and yours.