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The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

It's the first day of winter - lovely weather - and it's a lovely day today too - but I feel as if I am walking through deep water - or something very dense -

It happens every year - and this year I have done well - perhaps it has been unusually sunny and mild - and perhaps having joined this website - and throw in the psychologist - I have managed better - but yesterday - aaahh - that was a bad day and I am not sure if I turned my computer on - of if I did - I just wasn't capable of reading properly - I could not respond

It was not the best day of my life - but not the worst either

So it's all about my son dying and the circumstances - and I rang Life Line and talked to a wonderful woman there for quite a long time - and at the end I was exhausted.

I can't put the afternoon back together - it was too early for my medication but I stretched out on my bed and slept - at some stage I woke up and took my medication thinking I would not sleep - but did - and woke early which was fine - but it gave me a lot of time to think

What I had talked about with the lady at Life Line was the story I tell myself over and over - I did my best without support - and it the lack of support that made it all so hard. I would imagine that parents would care about their children having trouble with a badly-wired child who was always in trouble - and would care and follow through with all they could - and I have proved that I helped my son until he died - but mine didn't

It's terrible that my son died - it is terrible when any young person died - and I am pretty sure my son would not have lived a long life anyway - but the failure of family help - and the man I married who wanted a son so badly did not help - could not help - and the criticism of so many people - church people too - about this uncontrollable child - it tears me up -

This morning I wondered how I lived through each day - and I thought about my life now - and I live one day at a time - and these memories are so hard to live with. I understand people who have limitations - but I cannot understand how a whole family can turn on one member with a serious problem

They blamed me at the time - before he died Dad told me I had done something he could not have done - and except for a short time really Dad and I were always on good terms - and Dad has been gone quite some time

But still - I am outside of most things - I get on well with people - but alas - those memories curse me - and I don't want them - but they are here

And I am safe myself - but as the anniversary of my son's death gets nearer - I feel damned when I know in my mind and my heart - I did all I could for this damaged child - and I don't feel any guilt

After all - I have thought about it all these years - and of course - I think about him every day - why should I not

Decadian 😞

60 replies

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In response to: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

Re: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

Hi @Decadian, I'm with you, the anniversaries are painful, especially the lead up. Please be gentle with yourself, despite the ignorance of others. This is YOUR journey, not theirs. My only sister cut me off exactly one year after my teen died because she felt i was 'attention seeking' in my grief. I needed to connect more than ever but most people just can't handle it, don't want to. Its 4yrs since my sister talked with me. It hurts to lose others on top of it all. Just yesterday I relived that terrible night again (flashbacks are different to memories because they are invasive & not wanted). This time i didn't freak out, push it down or run away. I let it surface & sobbed & sobbed from the core. Its raw, its ugly, its hard & so real but letting it out at these right times does help. One person said to me "you can't get through the grief until you go THROUGH it. Its scary but survivable. When your dunked by a wave at the beach you come out of it better if you don't fight it. With me there was 100 things & more I could have done better as a mum but you know, take it to the cross, God knows your heart & wants you to live in peace. I do care about you & know you'll survive this too. You have a 100% track record of surviving so far. The intensity will pass. We're here for you. Do something to remember the baby you held in your arms �🐼🐶🐹🐏🐳🐾🌻

In response to: Re: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

Re: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

Hi @Former-Member,

im sorry I didn't respond when you recently spoke of your loss. I have struggled to know how to respond to such loss and grief. I've realised that if it was me I would want support to get through the difficult anniversaries. Although I'm still at a loss to know what helps I want you to know that I'm thinking of you and offering my moral support and best wishes. 💜

In response to: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

Re: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

Thanks @Former-Member, people don't have to carry those who grieve, just being there on a regular basis, talking about normal things & listening when needed, like u tonight. Thank you. Hope to get to know you better, have trouble remembering everyone but its coming to me, maybe a few months repetition lol 😸 Be Well!

In response to: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

Re: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

@Decadian, how's your vit-D levels, grab a suppliment for the winter 💗

In response to: Re: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

Re: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

Hi @Decadian

I have been thinking of you. I quickly had the sense that you are easy to get along with and I am glad you had good conversations with your dad at the end of his life.

Our memories are there .. sometimes they torment us and sometimes they console us .. they may change a little .. the way we tell the stories may become tempered with time .. hindsight sometimes shows us how huge the obtacles we have faced are.

All the outsider comments on our parenting need to be processed ... at times I can flick them away and be unconcerned then other times there it is again...those words circling and echoing in my mind.

No. You are right. People should not judge, but they do.

I saw half a film today about a kid who was scared of going to Juvie. "Hunt for the Wilderpeople". It was quirky and made me smile .. and I can get defensive and angry and triggered when the foster stuff comes up ... maybe you would like it ... I am not sure .. but would like to offer a soothing olive branch ..

@Former-Member and @Former-Member

We have endured a lot of grief.

In response to: Re: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

Re: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

Hi everyone

I would like to thank all of you - right now - I have just had a shower and need to get into bed before I get cold

I'll respond better tomorrow - but I want you all to know how much it means to have people who care

It will help me sleep better - and more than that - wake up better

What you have written has touched me more than I can say - but yes - I do remember the baby I held when he had cried himself out and had his bottle and rested as he fell asleep. He was so unhappy.

But I always loved him - I think he wanted his biological mother and I could never be her - but then - she could never have been me - either

Thanks - all my friends - very much

Decadian

In response to: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

Re: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

Hi @Faith-and-Hope

I would love you to post a candle for me - I am a great believer in candles - I light one whenever I get the chance -

And when I walk away leaving my candles burning I have the interesting feeling that this is how the spiritual life works - one person leaves this theatre as the candle burns away - and I continue my journey here

I believe we are all on journeys - we pass through this theatre in our own time - and leave traces of ourselves behind - those who die pass to another stage of existance - and continue - and I don't know what happens after we die - but I believe that in our life-time we have the chance or not - as we choose - to build our soul for life in the next stage

Often I thank God for my gift of years - something my son, 2 of my cousins, an aunt I never met but died young - did not have time to establish to the full here - and I have no intention of wasting my time here

The Gift of Years is a huge responsibility - and I am so glad I have this chance

Decadian

In response to: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

Re: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

@Decadian,

Please forgive me for assuming the memory of holding your son for the first time would be a good one for you.

Getting past bad memories after trauma can seem impossible. There's a scene in the the movie 'Batman Begins' that confronts this part of grief. Liam Neeson talks about grief saying:

"You've learned to bury your guilt with anger, that impossible anger strangles the grief until the memory of your loved one is just poison in your veins. One day you catch yourself wishing the person you loved had never existed - so you'd be spared your pain"

Everyone's journey in grief is individual, different to another, which can seem lonely. I hope a good memory breaks through one day, to default to when its hard. If not with him then in noticing the good elsewhere in your life & the here & now.

Just trying to help 🌿

TAWNEY

In response to: Re: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

Re: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

Hi @Former-Member 💗

I have a candle for your precious daughter too, if you would like it posted here ......... let me know 🌸

In response to: Re: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

Re: The Days are Getting Harder to Get Through

@Decadian

For your precious son .........

💙💚💛

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