I am both saddened and hopeful as I read the messages posted by all of you who have lost a dear parent. My wonderful 62 year old mother died on July 11 after a massive brain injury suffered only 6 days earlier. I feel lost, confused, fearful, deeply pained, robbed, relieved, angry, exhausted, supported, alone, resentful, overwhelmed, frustrated, and helpless all at once and can not focus on dealing with one emotion at a time. To complicate the rollercoaster of emotions that I am feeling now is the care of my dad who believes, as we all did, that he would have been the one to die first because of his long history of illness. My mother did everything for him-- so my 2 sisters and I must do as much as possible for him so he can get through the day. As much as I want to help my dad with some things, I can barely concentrate enough to get my life together so my husband's and daughter's lives are impacted minimally. Perhaps someone reading this can help explain how to weed through this tangled mess that my mother's death has created for me.
