When a parent loses a child, are there any words that can console?

But when a parent loses a child to addiction, what then?

With addiction comes unrelenting guilt, sometimes shame, remorse and isolation.  Does the unbearable anguish intensify?

Today, tragedies unfold everywhere.

Deaths from COVID that could be prevented.
Afghan refugees and those left behind.
Ida and its destruction.
Racial injustice. So many innocents wrongly accused.
Gun violence. The lives it destroys.

Several moms and dads I know have lost children to addiction.
They have taught me so much.

Today I wonder, what do they feel when they see these tragedies?

Surely, they understand sorrow and loss like no other.
But perhaps they, also, still find joy?

They remind me to do the same.

In the deep blue bowl of a cloudless sky
Or the Greyhound that leans against my legs and nuzzles my hand
The daughter who makes me a better person
The son – now years in recovery – whose love for his future wife inspires such hope.

I watch the mothers and fathers who have lost their children.

If they can find joy, surely I can, too.