The Sibling misses Dad’s Parenthood
While our brother kept us busy with all his fun and naughty activities and he was a joy and an array of hope for the future, Dad’s health suddenly took its toll. Late one night, he was having severe pain in his chest and he was admitted to a nearby hospital. After recovering from his attack, Dad came back home. We thought that was it. No more problems!!
But it didn’t end there. He had three more attacks and he was always in and out of hospitals. But the last attack didn’t let him survive. He was gone for good. It was a terrible loss for us all. Most of all, our brother was only six; yet he understood that he was never going to see Dad again. He always felt uncomfortable when our discussions turned to Dad’s memories. He didn’t want to listen or avoided them completely since then.
So our six year old sibling was going to miss Dad’s parenthood for good. Could the rest of all of us compensate for that? Surely not. But we tried our best.
Mom got busy with taking power of ownership for our properties and assets. We were busy with our own stuffs. And we let our brother play on the playground of our complex. He came back on time when evenings approached. But we only realized years later that those were his loneliest moments. We should have given him more attention all the time to bear with his grief for Dad.
We took care to give him good schooling and helped him with his studies. He earned enough good friends for his outgoing nature. We made sure he was eating properly now that it was his growing stage. He seemed happy now but his feelings of discomfort whenever we talked about Dad or even mentioned his name still retained. So for his sake of peace of mind, we ceased to bring up the discussions on Dad in front of him.