There is a special type of grief, hidden and almost shameful to experience. It’s part of disenfranchised grief, but I call it the grief of yearning.

How do you explain to others that although your parents are still alive, you hardly speak to them? How do you articulate longing for a connection you never had?

“You can’t miss what you never had,” people say. But we are born with the need to belong and be loved, so even without experiencing it, we know exactly what we’re missing.