I am so very thankful I live in a country where the vast majority of parents do not know what it’s like to bury a child.
I am part of a relatively small group. Bereaved parents make up a tiny segment of the population.
It’s possible that you may never be close friends with someone who has lost a child.
And because death and dying are unpopular subjects, and because grieving parents can become very good at hiding the pain, even if you DO meet someone whose child has died, they may never tell you about it.
So, so many of the friends I have made on this journey live each day bearing the weight of grief AND the heavy burden of being misunderstood-at work, in church, even in their own extended families.
One of the first posts I wrote was born out of this angst-birthed in pain as I realized that even well-meaning friends and family members who have not experienced child loss really don’t have any idea how it feels :
People say, “I can’t imagine.“
But then they do.
They think that missing a dead child is like missing your kid at college or on the mission field but harder and longer.
That’s not it at all.
Read the rest: What Grieving Parents Want Others to Know
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