"I often visited his graveside, refreshing his flowers and bringing him trinkets from our travels. I brought him balloons and other silly things on his birthdays. I even started a foundation in his memory to give me an outlet to talk about him. But when Ethan went to school and I felt that void both in my house and in my heart, I realized that I never really dealt with the loss of Jake."
"Getting used to the house without your brother nearly broke me. I couldn't help but compare it to your leaving. It is not something you can tell people because A) no one understands, and B) it is weird and not really at all the same. The thing is that it felt the same to me. I existed with this crazy hole in my heart and had to train myself to realize it was different."
A parent experienced a resurgence of grief after dropping her surviving son at college, which reopened feelings tied to an earlier child’s death. Longstanding rituals included visiting the deceased son's graveside, refreshing flowers, leaving trinkets, celebrating his birthday with balloons, and founding a memorial organization. The empty house and heart revealed unresolved loss that resurfaced on the thirteenth anniversary of the death, prompting a candid letter to the deceased son. The parent now acknowledges that grief and joy can coexist, allowing deeper love, greater appreciation of life, and closer bonds with both sons while embracing ongoing ways to stay connected.
Read at Business Insider
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