Hi! It's been a long time since I last posted, but something recently happened that is making making me heartsick... I just learned that one of my children is engaged to be married. All of my children are grown up and when they reach around 18 years old, decided to become JWs. They were quite young when I left the organization, shortly after which my wife and I separated. Despite my ex-wife's lack of encouragement to keep me involved in their lives, I was VERY involved and thought our relationship had grown as the years went by. But as each child made the decision to become JWs, they immediately cut me out of their lives. I haven't seen my oldest child for 10 years.
I thought I was dealing well with this loss. I grieved for the loss of each child and after a time, decided I was going to live life the fullest, with joy. Then I found out one of my children was engaged and was thrown for a loop. The reality of how much I am missing by not being a part of their lives, realizing that I will miss their weddings, the birth of their children and just being with them makes me so sad.
I am feeling a bit better but wonder how other parents on this board deal with this type of thing? Despite my children rejecting me, over the years I have kept in regular touch with them by card, letter and/or gifts. But I am wondering if that is even helping matters.
If any of you have experienced the pain of this type of loss, would you please let me know how you cope? Do you still attempt to keep in touch with your kids? Do you think this is beneficial? I'm probably not even asking the right questions, but would appreciate hearing from and being able to correspond with you.
Thanks!
AlwaysSeeking
