Sympathy Cards - Death of a Child, The Card No One Ever Wants to Get or Give

I was waiting for a prescription yesterday, so I decided to browse through their selection of greeting cards.  As I looked over the cards, I noticed that in the sympathy section, there were cards for loss of parents, loss of spouse, loss of grandparents, loss of job and even loss of a pet.  Being a parent who has lost a child, I was surprised that this pharmacy didn't have any sympathy for the loss of a child.  I know that many stores carry them, but still they are limited.

This speaks volumes of the trauma of losing a child.  It leads me to believe the odds of losing a child are much less than losing any other members of your family.  So again I ask myself why did I have to experience this?  Why did my brother's family have to live with this grief too?  Just seems unfair for so much pain to be put upon one family.

Many people feel that accidents just happen.  God gives us free will and by doing this he isn't able to protect us.  I have another view, I have to think that when we are born we all have a day already set to die. Some of us live to be old and gray, others are taken way too early in our views.  I feel that we are all put on earth to learn lessons, when these lessons are mastered then it is time to go on to a better world.  I believe in God, but I also believe that is it possible for our souls to be reborn after we die, that is why some of us seem like "old souls", we have already learned some important lessons and are much wiser.

This analogy helps me cope with my son's death.  He was with us long enough to learn his lessons, we don't like that God took him so quickly, but I just cannot believe death is just random.  My father's one year anniversary of his death is nearing.  October 1st will be another sad day, then October 3rd another one, because that is his birthday.  My father lived to almost 90 years old, my son lived to almost 19.  I have to believe that both were here long enough for their souls to evolve enough to go onto the next level.  That level might be heaven, or again I believe it might be rebirth.

Life is precious, no matter what our age.  I have learned this life lesson, I have learned that it is possible to live with grief and pain that some think would kill them.  It isn't easy, quite honestly it is very difficult, because I think I handle my father's death much better than my son's, I miss them both.  But even after 10 years the pain of the grief over my son's death is still razor sharp, cutting me deeper some days more than others.

Maybe this is the reason there isn't much of a variety of sympathy cards for the loss of a child, it is just too depressing for people to think about, too morbid to write about.