5 years ago, my mother passed away after a long battle with leukemia. At the time, i was only 8 at the time, and i didn't totally understand why. We went to church twice a week sometimes more than that, and she prayed all the time. My mum was the strongst christian i know. but all comes back to why?

It's taken me until a few months ago to get that it was her time to pass. I hated myself, I hated God for taking her away from me. I mean, growing up with a dad who goes red if you even mention puberty was hard enough. I've stayed strong but now i just wanna know, if anyone else is in my position, cuz i would really love someone to talk to about this stuff.

luv Smee

A considerable number of us.

My dad passed away (from lung cancer) when I was eight years old too. It took me a lot longer than five years to let it go. At least you seem to be on the right track (a lot sooner than I was).

The sooner you can let go and think of happy memories the better.

Yes, you seem to going along a lot better than me...my mother died three years ago after a six-year battle with cancer, and unfortunately that's probably linked to my numerous problems. It sort of gave me a spiral downward, so keep your head up and on the bright side of things. Hopefully you'll turn out just fine.

Omg. It's really hard, but you have to remember the good times, and you have to remember that they're going to a better place. You have to hold on. *hugs and hands you cake*

My cousin to whom I was very close suddenly died a couple of months ago. He was only seventeen, but fell ill with what they initially thought was mono... turned out it was a cancerous tumour in his chest, liver and kidney failure. Within two weeks he was raving mad with all the drugs they had him on and within three weeks he was dead. We spent every Christmas together... we used to go trick-or-treating together... we went on countless holidays together... it hit me pretty hard and the wound's still pretty fresh since this was in December.

I'm sorry to those of you that have lost a parent... that must be so much infinitely harder. Everyone, sooner or later, loses someone they're close to-- it's just to varying degrees. We all deal with grief differently. If it helps to think of the good times or to talk to people about it, that's the best thing for you. Personally, I just know that for a few weeks I entered into this bizarre manic thing in which I frantically worked on productive as well as just really stupid stuff. So I wouldn't have to think. I'd just drive myself to exhaustion. It's probably not the best method of therapy. Better than being destructive, I guess.