A survivor e-friend of mine died recently. She had been very, very sick for a long time, but she kept going and she kept going until I thought she might be immortal. She just plain refused to give up and I just plain refused to believe she ever would give up.
In the end, it wasn’t her that gave up, it was her body that gave in. She lay down and her friends came and sat with her and sang her favorite songs and surrounded her with love. And then she slipped away, peacefully. It sounded like a really beautiful death, and I would like to die in a similar way.
I gave something of myself to her after she died. I wrote a letter to her and another to a little that I had been close to. The letters were burned and their ashes buried outdoors in a favorite spot of hers. But I have nothing of hers except for memory of what she was like and verbatim memories of some of our e-mails. (I just now realized I have saved all of her e-mails and also the ones I sent her. So I do have a lot of her!)
I was really surprised at how deep my grief was when I learned she had passed away. I was far more attached than I realized. I cried steadily for several days, and now I am in the crying on-and-off stage. (I am crying now.) The child part of me keeps protesting – “I didn’t want her to die! It’s not fair!” And the adult part simply says, “I miss her.”
Usually when a survivor dies I am very angry, not at the person, but at the cult. So many of our illnesses are caused, directly or indirectly, by the torture we underwent in our childhoods. She was no different from the rest of us in that she was tortured mercilessly. But she happened to die of illnesses that could not be laid at the abusers’ feet. It’s often hard for me to remember that there are plenty of bad things in the world outside the cult and that genetics, infections, auto accidents, all sorts of things, can harm us and they have no connection to the cult.
Of course the cult claimed that they had caused all the awful things in the world and we believed them. Worse yet, they often said we had caused them because we were so evil. The guilt lingered long after we were old enough to realize that the accusation was ridiculous. I have no idea why they felt they had to puff themselves up so much – weren’t they powerful enough and evil enough as it was? I guess they were greedy and wanted all the evil in the whole wide world.
When a survivor dies, I grieve for the survivor community’s loss as well as my own personal loss. We each have a unique voice; there is nobody who can speak for us, speak like us, possess the same wisdom and compassion and beauty. There is a hole in the community that cannot be filled.
One death stir up feelings about other deaths, of course. I’m thinking of Lynn Moss-Sharman and Lynn Wosnak and Vern and Maggie and Julie and Karen Wiltshire and a man whose name I have forgotten who worked for the SPCA and investigated RA cases at the same time and Wendy and Dee and my brother. I think of those I knew who have died but I haven’t learned of their deaths. And then I think of those of us who are limping along and those that are fighting intense emotional and physical pain. I feel filled with sadness.
Haven’t been reading for awhile…obviously. My heart goes out to you, Jean, and everyone who has experienced this loss. It is never easy and our hearts are always full of those we love.
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Thank you so much. The grief isn’t quite as sharp, but it is still there.
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Dear Jeannie,
We are SO Sorry your Friend has gone.
May your Grief be not prolonged.
from Fairlight
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Thank you, Fairlight!
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Jean,
This was so beautiful. I read it over and over and over. I am so glad I will have this always to read. Deirdre’s birthday was this past Tuesday, November 24. She would have been 60. I found some pictures of Deirdre that I had on my computer from four of five years ago (when we first got to Hawaii.) I tried to email one to you but it didn’t work. I have to set something up first, it seems. So I will get you some older pictures as soon as I figure it out.
It’s been quite an adjustment to be back in civilization and especially to be back “home”. Have been waiting to get through the holiday and my mother’s birthday (Saturday) before I start figuring out what comes next. It all is still somewhat surreal.
Hope you are doing well, Jean. The weather has been very decent here, I’ve been getting a big break. And a friend of mine took me out to buy winter clothes, so I’m all set!
Sending my best to you!
Brian
>
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I’m so glad you wrote. I wrote this just for myself, and to know you like it this much means a lot to me. It will be great to t=get those photos.
In case anybody hasn’t guessed, Brian is Deirdre’s husband.
Me, I’m well, and thankful that Thanksgiving is over and done with for another year. And also thankful there is no snow here!
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This is a lovely post Jean and I’m sorry for the loss you feel. I like what an earlier comment said about how she didn’t die out of despair. I was thinking the same as I read your post. IME, it is one thing knowing we are not to blame but quite another believing it inside
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Thank you, Cat.
A lot of other people are missing her, I know that for a fact cause I know some of them and we can grieve together.
I treasure what Elsa said, “A Victory of Life.” It reminds me of what I blurted out years ago “Everyvday I don’t rape or kill is a miracle.” Given the way we were raised, that’s damn right.
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I’m sorry for your loss guys. Hugs. I’m just learning of the evil cult family i was born into. I didn’t know of them
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I’m so sorry you have that kind of family. If it’s like a tornado now, try and keep the hope that it will get better, Write me at jriseman@sonic.net for some resources if you want.
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Satan was the original narcissistic psychopath. Its typical of a psychopath to do this kind of blaming.
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Do you mean the pple who lied to us and said it was our fault were psychopaths? Makes sense!
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Dear Jean, sometimes, the kiss of Death is light & sweet,
& in her case, it was a victory of Life that she didn’t die out of despair !
All my condolences to You for this mourning …. *°*
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“A Victory of Life that she didn’t die out of despair.” I have to remember this — I never thought of death this way. Thank you!
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Thank you for sharing your grief for your friend. I am reminded of when a very dear survivor friend of mine died after a long and courageous struggle with cancer. I grieved for a long time but also remembered the love she gave me and how healing it was for me to feel unconditionally loved by her. Staying with her (imperfectly) through her struggle as painful as it was, was a spititual experience.
Wendy
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I bet it was also a gift she appreciated and that you were very dear to her. My telling about my friend made you think of yours, and you sharing this made me think of some one on the Survivorship message boards who died of cancer. We are all connected!
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Yes, we are and that is a comforting thought.
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