When a parent dies, the whole house of cards comes down.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The fate of a child is in the hands of his parents.
Every parent is at some time the father of the unreturned prodigal, with nothing to do but keep his house open to hope.
They say the death of a parent puts you in time because that means there's now no generation standing between you and ordinary death: you're next. I don't buy it.
When my father died, my mother was still alive. And I think when your second parent dies, there is that shock: 'Oh man, I'm an orphan.' There's also this relief: It's done; it's finished; it's over.
To a father, when a child dies, the future dies; to a child when a parent dies, the past dies.
I didn't even realize this at first, but there's almost no central character in any of my 24 books who doesn't have a dead mother or a lost parent.
Death can't be so bad if mom went through it. It makes it easier for the child to follow.
Losing a parent is a hard thing... I often sit here and think it would be great if mum and dad were alive and had a chance to see their grandkids grow up.
Once a child is confronted with the concept of death there's a certain innocence that goes.
When a father of a daughter dies, you elevate them. And you sort of deify them.