I originally wrote this blog a few years ago, but yesterday a friend that is struggling to decide whether or not she will tell her family that she no longer accepts the Jehovah’s Witness religious doctrine reminded me of it so I am re-sharing (with updates).
It’s not always completely freeing to come out of the closet (as an atheist in my case) and I wanted her to understand that.
I had a very strange realization recently: I don’t know what it’s like to be someone’s adult child. My parents didn’t get the privilege of seeing me come of age. I didn’t get walked down the aisle when I got married. I didn’t get parental advice when I went house hunting. I missed out on seeing pride in their eyes when I received my degrees. I haven’t had their shoulders to lean on when I struggled with infertility. I’ve never gotten relationship advice or job advice or any other counsel an adult child needs. We haven’t discussed politics or philosophy or any other complex subject matter. No, my parents aren’t dead, but I grieve for them all the same.
Click here to read the rest: http://www.freethoughtify.com/grieving-for-the-living/