Anticipatory grief — grieving before they are gone

Jennifer, I went through this with my dad. He had the same timeline — 3-6 months.

What I wish someone had told me: it's okay to grieve now AND be present. They're not mutually exclusive. Some moments you'll be completely in the present, laughing at something with your mom. Other moments the future will crash into you and you'll need to step out of the room to cry. Both are fine.

One thing that helped me was starting a journal. I wrote down things my dad said, little moments, inside jokes. Now, years later, I'm so grateful I did that.

Also — talk to your mom about it. She might be wanting to have those conversations too but doesn't want to upset you. Some of our most meaningful conversations happened when we stopped pretending everything was okay.