Gettyimages.com/woman at a cemetery
It’s never easy to lose a loved one, and especially the person who brought you into this earth, presumably raised you, and paid for your life for the first 18 years of it (if not more). But I’m going to say something that perhaps I’m not allowed to say, but that many people have thought: losing a parent with whom you’re close is simpler. I didn’t say easier or less painful, but simpler. You know what you are—you’re sad. It is clearly a loss. It is, without question, a negative event in your life. You know that your life was better with them in it. You know what to feel. Now the part I’m not supposed to say: losing a parent you weren’t close to is tougher. You aren’t sure what to feel. There is a lot of guilt associated with having thought terrible things about someone who is now gone. Here’s a look at the strange experience of losing a parent you weren’t close to.
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Handling his affairs makes you angry
If you’re stuck with the grueling and long task of handling the deceased’s affairs, sorting out his estate, selling his things, and so on, you become angry. Your relationship was a mess with this person, and now he’s left you a mess to clean up. And if he were here, you’re not sure he’d be grateful.
