Your Saddest Memory
If you will like to share what has been your saddest memory and how are you copping with it?
Saddest memory would be the last time I saw my paternal grandmother. She was suffering from a series of strokes, and losing more and more of who she was every time. Towards the end, she couldn't remember her own sons, let along me and my siblings. The only loved one she really remembered and wanted was her husband, and he was already gone. In spite of all those there who cared deeply for her, she died surrounded by strangers.
It was losing my dad last August. He was 93, lived a full life, and died in his sleep on the last day of weeklong trip I had to see him and do some chores for him, so he died on his terms. That said, my mom died a long time ago, back in the early 90s and my dad never remarried. Heck, he never even tried. He figured my mom was the love of his life and he was done. So I would call five or six times a week when I wasn't deployed. I would often find a way to call even when I was deployed, it would just be very infrequently.
Well, it got to the point where rather than calling for him and to cheer him up we talked about anything and everything, sports, politics, world events, you name it. He became my best friend. Sometimes I'll be driving somewhere and I'll think I should call my dad… yes, it's hands free. And then I'll remember and I'll be sad for a moment, and then realize he left here on his own terms exactly as he wanted to.