When do we stop acknowledging a loss?

Jan LaPitz

From as early as I can remember my Dad’s mother brought up the subject of her child that only lived a few days after he was born.  That was my first encounter with death.   My grandma would recall vivid details of her child’s birth and his death as if it had happened recently.  I never took note of the date, or even the month when she started talking about him.  As I think about it now I probably should have.  As a little kid it was kind of creepy to have Grams talking about her dead baby.  As I got older I felt sad for her.  There didn’t seem to be any way to comfort her except to listen to her tell her story.  On the other hand no one else in the family ever mentioned the dead baby, not Grandpa, my Dad or Dad’s sister.  I think I may have been the only person Gram’s could talk to about her baby that didn’t live.  How sad is that. Continue reading →