One of my worst nightmares is the thought that I will forget something very important. And I’m not thinking something like the one time I forgot it was Cindy’s birthday until sometime around noon. No I’m thinking things more along the lines of this poor man who forgot his baby in the back seat of his car.
Now I realize that I don’t have to worry about that particular thing any more, but there are other day to day tasks that I fear I will forget and end up with a child across town waiting for me to pick them up. Or leaving the candle burning, or the stove on or some other such forgetfullness that can cause great damage.
The article quotes a brain researcher who says, “Day-to-day stress won’t affect brain function. But persistent stress combined with a sense of helplessness can be toxic to the brain.”
Going through the process of grieving you have plenty of stress and at times there certainly is hopelessness, but mostly that leads to forgetting to pay bills, or paying them twice, or putting the milk in the cupboard and the cereal in the fridge a la About Schmidt. We widowed folks call it widder brain.
And any single parent probably lives in a constant state of persistant stress. I know I do.