Proust's condolence letter to de Lauris, is the most profound, yet true, words I have seen written about the loss of one's mother and I feel the need to share them with whomever will listen because losing your mother is common to all of us and Proust doesn't just say, "you'll get better with time" as most people do. He admits you will NEVER get over it and yet there is a pleasure in the loss that admitting how you feel will help you to remember her for all time. Letter from Proust to Georges de Lauris, whose mother had just died (1907) Now there is one thing I can tell you: you will enjoy certain pleasures you would not fathom now. When you still had your mother you often thought of the days when you would have her no longer. Now you will often think of days past when you had her. When you are used to this horrible thing that they will be forever cast into the past, then you will gently feel her revive, returning to take her place, her entire place, ...
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