Neither have I, Jane. Disrupting a thread is not what my previous post was about at all.
I do compare the threads on lack of access to grandchildren with those supporting those of us who have been widowed. There is the same generous degree of support from those in the same position, and from those who are not but are aware that they could be at any time. There is advice from those who have been through it on ways to cope, and suggestions of things to fill the yawning gap in our empty lives.
What I have not seen from the bereaved is a response that those who suggest practical strategies are not being helpful because their situation is quite different and they are not being sympathetic enough to other posters. This is just not true. Those who have taken active steps to heal themselves were in just as much pain but have been pro-active in finding ways to deal with it.
When you have lost your other half to death - and "other half" is absolutely the right expression - it is as traumatic as losing access to children or grandchildren, and in this case there is no hope - no hope at all - of a reconciliation and a return to normal.
The only way forward is to learn somehow to live without what you have lost, and to try not to make those who are still with you feel that they cannot come close to giving you what you seek from the lost one. If you continue to be in despair at every family celebration without them, store the gifts that you can no longer give them, as a shrine to their memory, centre your life around what cannot be, you place an intolerable burden on everyone else.
Like any other wound, it needs suitable treatment, possible by a professional, but as ours mothers used to tell us, "it will not heal if you keep picking at it".