Squirrelrat wrote:
I didn't cry over my dad's death until a year after it happened, when I really wanted him to see something I had made. Strangely, I bawled over my pet rat's death right away.
As a person who feels grief, even the grief of others sometimes, I am curious about this. As a NT (with it seems some AS traits) I can understand how one wouldn't feel grief for a person they weren't very close to, but it is more difficult for me to understand how you can not feel grief for a father, or other loved one, family member or partner/spouse. However I don't think it makes you a horrible person, I think you "process" the loss in a different way, and it possibly also depends on how close you actually were to that person emotionally, if there was really a bond or not. Not everyone feels close to their mother, father, or other family members.
Like when you say "I didn't cry over my dad's death until a year after it happened, when I really wanted him to see something I had made". I could be totally wrong, but to me it sounds as if the reality of his death occured to you emotionally at that moment, more then when he passed away, while before that moment of course you knew he was gone but it wasn't obvious that you could miss him in the future but he wouldn't be there for you anymore. For me this "moment" happens right away when a person I loved passed away, all these things go through my mind, I feel intensely and emotionally the fact that he/she won't be there anymore and that I will miss him/her in the future. Which doesn't mean that I will display my emotions right away and in public tho, for example when my mother died I cried (in private) but I didn't cry at her funeral, I am pretty sure everyone thought I was heartless.
You also mention that you cried when your rat died right away, but is it possible that you were interacting a lot more often with your rat then your dad? I know that personally I feel close to my dogs and cats, and when when one dies I feel very sad.
Shadi