Abby Connolly
For many people, a therapeutic way to remember their departed loved ones and work through their grief is to keep photos of them around the house.
If anyone has a problem with that, it can make you feel quite uncomfortable.
One man recently upset his in-laws after shutting them down because they questioned why he and his kids kept a few photos of his late wife in their house.
He’s 46 and has two children, ages 13 and 10. His late wife, their mom, died in a car accident five years ago. While he was still married to his late wife at the time of her death, for the last three years of her life, they were not on good terms and had their fair share of problems.
In fact, he and his late wife were practically separated but continued to live in the same house and act as if everything was fine for the sake of their kids.
“Both of us came from divorced families and what I consider broken homes because of how badly our parents handled the divorces,” he said.
“We didn’t want that for the kids. We feared we couldn’t do better. The end result was us hating each other. I regret that now. After she died, I was determined to let go of all that hate and to make sure the kids knew they were loved by both [of their] parents.”
He kept most of his late wife’s belongings and, over the years, has let his kids take charge of what they want to keep around and what they can let go of. They used to have several photos of her and the kids hanging up in the house’s common areas but narrowed it down to two.
“The rest are either in their room or stored for them with the rest of her stuff,” he explained.
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