Estrangement is grief with no socially approved ritual. There is no funeral for the version of your family you kept hoping might arrive. People keep asking if I will reconnect like there is not a whole graveyard of attempts already. It hurts differently when the person could call and chooses not to. The silence has a family resemblance all its own. There is no funeral for the version of your family you kept hoping might arrive.
For the one still alive and still absent