Death

[Scutisorex Shrewlord]

Why when someone old dies, is it still difficult to grasp? Logically you know that nobody, aside from Dick Clark, will live forever. Yoou try to prepare yourself mentally for the inevitable passing of those older folks who enriched your life in some way. But, when the time comes, it's never that easy. You think of the past and remember things as from the eyes of a child. Then it hits you... and you cry.:(

[Limper]

The emotional side of your mind and the logical side don't actually communicate directly so prepping on one side never really gets the job done.

[Scutisorex Shrewlord]

The emotional side of your mind and the logical side don't actually communicate directly so prepping on one side never really gets the job done.

I suspect you're right.

[Space Cadet B^3]

I remember around 10 years ago seeing my mom wheeled on a hospital bed out of surgery after having her gall bladder removed. She had so little color and was barely breathing, I believe it was my first full-on occurence of parental mortality.

In a way that thought has been with me for years, but it did nothing to prepare me for the happening.

[Northcott]

It's not an illogical reaction. Far from. Logic is based on the proven, the predictable, the ability to seek and/or create order. Logic is consequence from action. When we've known somebody a long time, perhaps even as a presence for the entirety of our lives, the minutae of their presence is imprinted upon us. We know the tones of their voice, the smells they carry with them or that are present in their home, the tales they've told, the values they've lived by... these things become a part of our pattern of life. And of course, when those figures loom large in our lives, those patterns are even more dominant.

So when that process is interrupted permanently by death, it only makes sense -- it's only logical -- that there should be some traumatic impact. There's suddenly a hole in the pattern of our own existence.

Sure, grieving is an emotional thing. We may even swing into illogical decisions or reactions as a result -- and there's nothing wrong with that, presuming we don't fall into the realm of self-abuse and/or harming others. There's logic to grieving, though. There's logic to the pain that accompanies loss. It's never just an emotional reaction: when we lose somebody important, the impact is too big to be so easily dismissed. Recognizing that honours the role they played in our lives.

[Kyle Voltti]

I think it's that we recognize an absence, the subtraction, of something from a greater whole. It doesn't matter that a life is long or short we feel the loss of it.

[Harry]

Yoou try to prepare yourself mentally for the inevitable passing of those older folks who enriched your life in some way. But, when the time comes, it's never that easy.

My father has, for some ten years, tried to make me "aware" of the fact that his won't live forever. I take all that as I can, knowing that's just my Dad being Dad. I know how I respond to crises. Most of my responses are ingrained, trained to a degree. My responses to death have always been strong. I experience shock, then I cry, then my logic, stoic side takes over. I always wondered how I would react when the day eventually comes that my father does pass. I am unusually close to him. It's been almost a year now since my father went through a rather prolonged illness, which he's since recovered mostly from. Almost exactly a year since my father called me to come help at 5 in the morning, and I ran to my car and drove to his house, and found him unconscious on the floor, barely breathing.

So now, I've got a pretty good idea of how I will react when it happens for real. Between Dad last year, and my Uncle Steve who was like my older brother... I think I am prepared.

[shiningbrow]

My dad checked out in the middle of the day. Alone. He'd had a good day, a good death. Didn't suffer. But it was like the rug got yanked out from under me. I was 3000 miles away. I flew home but he was gone. It didn't help. I don't think I'll ever recover from it. I am not as prostrate with grief, but there's not a day that goes by that I don't miss him.

[Ancalagon]

My father is 78 years old and has Parkinson... :grey:

[Dawnstar]

Death is hard no matter if you know it is coming or not. My best friend in College's father passed away. He was in hospice for a week and we all knew it was coming but it was still really hard. It is one of those things that you can prepare yourself only so much but once that person is no longer here, it is a completely different ball game.

I am sorry to hear of a loss.

[Scutisorex Shrewlord]

I was shocked yesterday to hear my Great Aunt Edith passed away. Now, she was quite old. But she had been in good health until last week, and leukemia struck her down in 7 days (7 days it was known about, anyway). I didn't know about it until after she passed. It was a shock, though perhaps it shouldn't have been, but it was.