The way death affects marriage partners varies. The death of a child can have serious consequences on a marriage. This could be because men and women tend to try to handle such a situation in various ways, and sometimes they don’t know enough about how the other is feeling and why they react as they do.
The death of a parent can also affect a men and woman in different ways and is something most of us will experience at some point.
Mick and I have gone through this twice since we have been married, first with the death of my mother and a few years later the death of his mother. Our way of handling it was very different.
Dealing with death of a close family member or close friend can be hard on a marriage. It needs understanding and realizing that we all have different ways of dealing with things. It not just because mean and women tend to deal with things differently, although that does come into it. But what we believe, the relationship of the one who has died and how close we are to that person, our emotional state at the time and what else is happening in our lives, our personalities will all affect the way a person deals with death.
Some people tend to shut down and keep it inside, some are more emotional and their feelings are on show. There are varying stages of grief that include anger, relief, and regret. They are all part of the grieving process. As several other people commented, you can’t put a time limit on grief and say this will happen at such and such a time, because we’re all individuals.
Some people will want to regularly visit the person’s grave. To others such a thing would not mean a thing. They’d rather keep photos of the person in the house and rely on memories rather than visit a grave.
Each of us will encounter loss at some point in our lives. So if your spouse has lost a parent or close friend what can you do? Join me tomorrow for some tips on how-to deal with a grieving spouse.
Please visit these related blogs
Dealing with the Death of Parents
The Experience of Losing a Parent
A Life Weighed Against Euthanasia