United in our Grief Forum.

Thank you for sharing this with us. No, the pain does not go away but it does get better with time. I too look at a picture of my father and cry as we never really bonded until the last few years of his life. I was often told that he saw a lot of himself in me and that frightened him as he too often felt alone in his childhood. Only I had a solitary nature as a child and teenager, I was more comfortable alone. When we finally bonded, I felt as if I had stepped out into the light but that light dimmed the day he passed away. It's been over a year since then and I am coping as well as the rest of my family but I find I can not return to that comfort zone of solitude I had been in for so long. Now that I got a taste of bonding with someone, I miss that. My mom and I are bonding more now, doing things together that we both enjoy.