Surviving the first season without your mentor

[fargoflyfish]

Sorry for you and your husband's loss. This year will be a big change for both of you.

I lost my father last year too. We had so many things planned together, but unfortunately all of that got cut short. Honestly, this last year was difficult for me. I used to talk to my father daily, I lived in the country on my family's land a 1/4 mile from my parents and saw him almost daily, and we did all of our hobbies together. Fortunately I have a big family which helped, but there is still a void in all of our lives.

I wish I had some advice to help you feel better. The one thing that has helped me was one of the last things he said to me. He told me I was a lot like my Grandfather and said to try and emulate his kindness. My father was just as good of a person as my grandfather and was very generous to less fortunate people. The thing that has helped me has been trying to follow the example my grandfather and father set. With my job I meet a lot of new people and a lot of these people knew my father. It does give me some peace when they say that I remind them of my father.

Keep doing all of the things you enjoy. Especially the things that you enjoyed doing with him. It will definitely trigger some emotions, but it gives you some good time to reflect back on the times you had together.

Sorry again for you loss.

 

[Hunting Wife]

Well, we managed a successful antelope outing with only a few tears shed. It was a long, quiet drive in the dark with all the memories of other drives coming to mind. Down to the usual spot, glassing the familiar hills and swales, seeing the familiar landscape, but having everything feeling very unfamiliar at the same time. We found some antelope, formulated a plan, and started to get into our groove. Two stalks, two antelope - a smaller buck for Hunting Husband and a doe for me. I just sat and looked at her for a while. One step at a time, we are finding our way. Two antelope on opening day... he would have been very happy about that. It was a good day.

 

[VAspeedgoat]

My wife lost her father as a teenager and once told me she spent a long time trying to get back to normal when in reality you have to find the NEW normal. Hope your season is full of notched tags and good memories. Hope the sad passes quickly and gives way to happy memories.