Time's funny stuff, Pete – a lot funnier than Einstein ever figured out.
Ever have emotions from long ago come back, raw and fresh like it just happened?
My husband and I have had some good talks today, although it's heartbreaking to see him hurting so much. It just now, finally, dawned on me. He was doing great the weekend before last when we were visiting our oldest son and his family. Really connected with our grandson, who was smiling and laughing with grandpa (AH) and that connection was charming everyone. The next week at home is when he started spiraling, and fast, and the more he screws up, the more he screws up... This is the first time my husband has seen our grandson since the day he was born. He's only a few weeks older than our son was when he died. It took me this long to see, with him opening up to me, that he's grieving for our firstborn son.
I could tell he was hurting, but didn't know what was going on. He finally managed to say enough today that things started to click.
He's been burying his emotions all his life. He has choices to make each day. We both know he's been making very poor ones, so you don't need to beat up him up over that. He's doing plenty of that already. I pray this week he will talk with the people at rehab and be open to what they have to say.