I am 23 years old and my mom passed away from breast cancer when I was 18. I was very close to her and it was and continues to be extremely hard to deal with. A couple of years ago my dad announced that after his years of grief he was ready to begin dating. My sisters and I had a hard time accepting this; I think only those who have lost a parent can understand the hurt that it brings picturing your surviving parent with someone else. I think he saw one woman casually for a couple months, but it ended - we never met her and that was that. To clarify, my dad is the kindest man I know and has always been careful and considerate of our feelings with all of this, but I know he has to do what he needs to make himself happy.

Coming up this week is my mom's birthday. She would have been 55. Every year, her birthday or anniversary of her death are just emotional periods that bring back so