DEAR EDITOR:
This is in response to Ruth Lilley's letter to the editor on March 11 (sadness is a hard topic to handle).
I lost my 15-year-old son four years ago. I want to let her know that the sadness never goes away. In her last sentence, she says it "is time to put away the sadness."
Well, I have news for her; you cannot put away the sadness. The death of a loved one is something you get through, not something you get over.
You cannot turn the sadness off and on like a light switch - it is just always there.
My son did not die in a car accident or a fire, like she says, so I have nowhere to put a shrine as she calls it. I wish I could put a cross where he died. I want to let her know she is so very wrong when she says the crosses and the other mementos are a reminder. Trust me, you don't need a cross to remind you of a loss.
That is how some people cope with a death, and if the crosses help them, then I say go for it.
She should be so very grateful that she's never faced the loss of a child.
Connie L. Boney
Warren