Saddest/Toughest Day of your life?

I remember reading through these posts in Biology class my freshman year of college. When I was going through it, this seemed to help a bit. Not that it's others going through worse, but more like the amount of positivity and hope despite these hardships.

I've pulled this thread on occasion over those years and it's still incredibly impactful.

I was just trying to sympathize with Naperville, what happened to his wife is not all that common, and not well understood, even by professionals. Its nice to hear others who have gone through the same thing. Its very isolating, there are only a handful of people who truly understand that situation.

I'm glad to hear you are doing well.

January 6 was worse than Pearl Harbor and 9/11 combined

Thanks. I have always thought the loss of a spouse or child would be the toughest. My grandmother (mother’s side) died in childbirth with stillborn, my grandfather committed suicide a few months later. My mother was raised by her grandparents.

I almost ran sub 20 but tripped 50m from the line.

We all experience grief from time to time and I'd taken some hard hits in the first 50 years of my life, but a few years ago we lost our only child as a young adult and I learned what grief could be at its worst. My life now is divided into life before and life after our child. I'm not quite sure how my spouse and I have survived the grief; there were plenty of times I thought we wouldn't, both literally and figuratively (not sure how our relationship survived). It's been a slow journey toward "healing" if I can call it that. We manage to function fairly well in public, but there's some important damage hanging over our daily lives that we don't let other people see.

I don't wish the loss of a child, at any age, on anyone else, anywhere or anytime.

The day my parents told us they were getting divorced. I was 10, my brother 9, my sister 4. She didn't know what the word meant, and was very upset watching me and my brother cry.
I was crying because I knew that my life was about to get much more difficult, and I was going to be alone emotionally, without support. This ended up being very much the case.

Its hard to explain how it feels when you are 10, and realizing you are on your own. You have a bed, food, school, some friends. But all of that becomes tenuous and transient, which is overwhelming for a child.

Sisters murder when I was young

I thought afterwards that suicide would be more difficult and have had to deal with my own child's suicide very recently

The day the Mods stopped letting me use M.A.G.A as a salutation.

This is the saddest thread I've ever read. My thoughts are with all of you who have experienced such severe family losses.

I can see that, and in a similar world might function far worse. During the lockdown close friends lost their son. The husband functions well publicly, but the wife’s social media postings are sadly painful.

Best to you and your wife.

My neighbor lost a 19-year-old son. I had friends die when I was a kid, a few real risk-taker types, one shot by gangbangers, and one run over by a drunk, but it's different when you are close to a parent who loses a kid. He talks to me about it every time I see him. I have been through a lot, so I guess it's not too bad for me to listen to him and try to build him up. Poor guy. I have three teenage sons too. Right next to him and he lost his only one. He wanted to buy one of my sons a motorcycle, I think the one that most reminds him of his son. His wife and I politely nixed the idea. I hope like hell I go before my kids...but I think I could deal with it. My mother died when I was 9, my dad when I was 20 and one of my brothers committed suicide when he was 21.