A decade later, a decade lost

Re:A decade later, a decade lost by hinkley on Saturday February 15, 2025 @08:20PM (#43064354)

When you hit college age is often when your odds of experiencing the first death in your family spikes up. Grandparent, great grandparent, oldest aunt. It happened to a number of friends of friends and acquaintances. Some people were a complete mess and others were more resilient.

The pattern I noticed was the people who had lost a pet were more equipped to deal with the loss of a human. The worst hit people never even had pets. Maybe a coincidence, but I suspect not. I don’t think it hurts any less, but you know better what needs to be done to move through it instead of getting stuck.

(Sorry for your loss)

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Re:A decade later, a decade lost by kelnos on Sunday February 16, 2025 @01:11AM (#43065780)

My mother died during my second year of college. My father died when I was in my 30s. My mother's parents died before I was born, and my father's had both died by the time I was 10 or so.

We had cats when I was a kid, and two of them died while I was in my early/mid teens. They were "mom's cats", and at the time I didn't understand why it affected her so deeply. It made me sad, to be sure (both cats had been around my entire life up to that point), but I didn't get it. Not until I lost my own cat, anyway.

In a strange way, a way that I sometimes feel bad about, losing my cat hit me harder than losing my parents.

> (Sorry for your loss)

Thank you!

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