“You can’t own a human being. You can’t lose what you don’t own.” — Toni Morrison
Grieving parents often wrestle with feelings of loss as if they owned their children. The bond between parent and child feels sacred and permanent. Love does not come with contracts or guarantees. The experience of losing a child challenges every expectation about control and possession. A parent’s heart learns that love exists beyond ownership. The connection remains, even when physical presence ends. Grief teaches a new kind of holding—one without grasping or needing possession. That kind of love is freer and more profound than anyone expects.
Many grieving parents carry guilt about what they could have done differently. Guilt suggests ownership over a life’s path. The truth is that lives unfold in ways no one controls. Children live their own journeys beyond a parent’s wishes or plans. Love is not possession, and grief is not failure. Parents carry memories, hopes, and unspoken dreams, but never ownership. Grief is the recognition of love’s true form—deep, unconditional, and unbound. Accepting this truth brings both sorrow and peace.
The realization that love transcends ownership invites healing. Parents learn to cherish the essence of their child’s spirit. Love lives on in memories, actions, and stories shared. That love cannot be lost or taken away. Grief is the natural response to loving deeply without ownership. Compassion for oneself grows when this understanding settles in. Parents become carriers of love’s purest form—a love that holds without holding back. That love becomes a lasting legacy.
Thought for today: Release the need to own. Embrace love that lives beyond possession and loss.