Tunnels in Time After Child Loss

          

       The loss of a child is a strange thing. It can be a bit like moving into a time tunnel. One one side of the tunnel, the world is stopped in the place where you lost your child. In my time tunnel, this side is missing Daniel and he would be 12 1/2, and my other children would be the age they were when he died. In some ways, this is the last place I was before the Earth underwent terrible, sad and dark changes.  On the other side of the time tunnel, life has moved on and many changes have taken place. I have a grandchild who is four now. Some of my children are married, and some have their own homes and businesses. They are through colleges now. The other side of the time tunnel, known to most of you as the present has some other odd features. Daniel, is of course, not here, but if he were, he would be 23 years old now.  It's strange to try to imagine what a Daniel of 23 might look like, what he might be doing and where he went to college. It can be bewildering when you add his friends. Recently, one of his friends got married and they are a lovely young couple, and not at all too young to enter such a daunting commitment. It is hard to reconcile that even one of Daniel's friends has married.

          Other than that, I am still working, still writing, and still caring for one remaining dog that Daniel knew, named Sally, whose days are likely numbered now, due to advanced age. We have other dogs on the farm, but they were acquired after his departure. There is one alpaca remaining that he knew, and chickens who are the grandchildren of the rooster be bought the day before his passing.

             May your own tunnels in time be happy and secure places, on either end.