I've always thought of myself as someone who can relate to the passing of another person's loved ones, but now I'm not so sure. My mother died when I was 13, and even though this has had a profound impact on how I view the world and my relationships with other people, sometimes I think it's done little more than make me a teary-eyed fool when watching movies involving children losing their parents (which never ceases to amaze me how I can be still be so affected by a movie plot).
Death is a strange thing. It is ever-present in our lives, it is a constant thing you can count on. Life ends, death continues. It never ceases to hurt, and the cold hard fact of it doesn't fade away. Rather, it becomes a part of ourselves, and we carry it with us for the rest of our time here on this earth.
