I know we've sort of talked about this before @MJG017 but I agree, there are many different types of grief. @tyme 

Most people only think of grief when someone passes away (or a pet - although some people think that's a bit unusual - "they were only a dog").

But there are lots of types of grief, for example, @MJG017's grief over not 'belonging to a "tribe" (a family of your own), a kind of lack of connection.

I think this is a very important type of grief. Humans are social beings and need social connection to thrive I believe. And part of this I think is touch.

I live by myself and have for decades, I also lack meaningful connection, sometimes I will go for months without anyone touching me, not accidentally, but like a hug. When I was diagnosed with cancer in 2022. Apart from clinicians, in the 4 months of surgery, recovery and radiotherapy. I only had 3 touches. Three different people each gave me a hug. And at that time I had my 2 dogs (one has since passed away), which were little life savers.

I was craving some kind of human touch especially at that time. It is difficult for me though because I have hypervigilance and trust issues as part of my cPTSD and my family of origin is not really a hugging etc type family. 

I am in my 60s now and I feel I need to grieve for connections I will never have, intimacy I will never have, children and grandchildren I will never have. So it's still a loss, but a different type of loss to a person actually passing away.

I have lots of other things I feel I need to grieve like loss of the innocence that was stolen from me by the stepfather, loss of childhood, adolescence and much more. They are all losses. Of course, I am not the only person by far who has suffered years of CSA. 

So I think people in general need to be mindful that many people are grieving many different things. Other examples are loss of bodily function if you have a chronic disease or congenital issue (such as blindness) or lost part of you in an accident.