Jeff and I had such a deep, seemingly cosmic connection that for many years, I thought I’d be pulled into death when he died. It didn’t seem fair because he was five years older than me, and I thought I’d be cheated out of five years of my life.
About a year before he died, I hugged him and accidentally touched his left ear. I know now cancer had metastasized all the way up his left side and into his brain, but at the time, all I knew was that he pushed me away, wincing in agony. Some part of me closed down at that moment, and a voice deep inside me said, “He might dying, but I have to live.” During that year, we went our separate ways, he to dying, me to living. Then, six weeks before he died, he made the connection with me again. He needed to talk about what was happening to him so he could gather courage to face what was coming, and during that daylong conversation, I remembered why I’d fallen in love with him all those years ago.
Because of the disconnect during our final year, a year where I felt dissociated from him and our life, I didn’t expect to grieve, so the depth of my pain stunned me. I struggled for many years to deal with the wreckage of our shared life. Although he did not pull all of me into death with him, apparently he did pull part of me into the abyss, and that hole — that amputation — will always be a part of me.
During my grief struggles, I felt at times as if I’d betrayed our love because in the end, our connection wasn’t strong enough to keep us together, not in life and not in death. I did get my five years. And more. I continued to grow older than Jeff ever would, to develop my own unshared and solitary life.
As of today, I have lived exactly six years longer than he did. It doesn’t seem right, not that I have lived all these years, but that he didn’t have the choice. Well, neither of us had a choice. That voice inside me didn’t say “I want to live.” It said, “I have to live.’
I no longer feel any sense of betrayal. We each did what we needed to do, both when we were together and when death ripped us apart.
During those last weeks after we reconnected, we tried to support each other, each of us thinking the other was getting the worse of the deal. I thought he had it worse because he had to die in pain; he thought I had it worse because I had to live and suffer through life — and grief — alone. I still don’t know who got the better deal. I had these years, but I will also have to deal with dying one of these days.
But not today. Today I am honoring the six years of life that were given to me, years that were denied to him. It’s not exactly a celebration, but it is something worth reflecting on.
Or not. In the end, we each live our allotted years the best we can, and hope we can meet the end with courage.
***
Pat Bertram is the author of Grief: The Inside Story – A Guide to Surviving the Loss of a Loved One. “Grief: The Inside Story is perfect and that is not hyperbole! It is exactly what folk who are grieving need to read.” –Leesa Healy, RN, GDAS GDAT, Emotional/Mental Health Therapist & Educator
Bertram's Blog 
November 19, 2020 at 1:14 pm
You have no idea how invested I am in your life turning out, overall, as a grand victory. Why? Because we are all following in your footsteps. Your experience is or will be our experience.
November 19, 2020 at 1:48 pm
The only thing still lacking is a bestselling book. I have hopes!
November 19, 2020 at 3:24 pm
Pat as usual well written. I am pretty sure that you are going to write a bestseller with the subject of grief. Novel or something you feel like.
And I dream and hope somebody is going to make a film or documentary with your book.
November 19, 2020 at 5:42 pm
I would like that!
November 19, 2020 at 5:58 pm
There were so many things about my experience that I never would have expected, about which you have acknowledged. Our ages was one. Joan was 72, as was I for another 94 days. Ever since, I’ve thouight of my age as somehow wrong, extra years that maybe I don’t deserve. But then I do have a new life, with a new partner to share it with.
Thank you again for all that your thoiughts have done to help me try to accept this.
November 19, 2020 at 6:34 pm
I appreciate your letting me know I helped a bit. Best wishes for you new life.
November 21, 2020 at 11:20 am
Happy birthday!