Horrible Ways to Become Estranged

cthulhu: ...I pray that each member of the family will find their way to the proper point on that spectrum, so their untroubled memories will comfort them in the future -- and that the family share of themselves to other family members to magnify the good and diminish the sorrow.

So nicely said, Cthu.

I've never had to deal with Altz, thank heavens, but it seems about as awful as can be, losing the memories, losing the relationships, is losing oneself.

There are other horrible ways to become estranged. Folks should feel free to pray (fwiw) for my sibling, once brilliant and creative and would-be spiritual, now isolated for many years, paranoid, vengeful-minded, threatening - heartbreaking for our 95yo mother who lies awake at night sometimes worrying about him.

And then there's just coma. You don't even know if they're in there at all anymore. Although, I have to say, talking to my step-father - a hard-ass man I didn't get along with, but holding his hand while he was comatose - telling him Mom would be okay, that he didn't have to worry, and he could let go, and having him pass within a day or two after that, you might assume that somewhere inside, they're still listening, no matter what it seems like.

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