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[quote=Anonymous]Would love to hear from others who have lost a sibling or someone whose death was very unexpected. How do you respond when people ask about them without wanting to have a long, drawn out, awkward conversation?

Of course close friends and family know what happened but many do not, and the circumstances of my sibling’s passing are not something I really want to get into or discuss. Recently I have had friends or colleagues very innocently ask how my sibling is, or people who I don’t know well ask if I have any siblings. I keep freezing on how to respond and what the best response is.

When I say I have a sibling who passed away I seem to get barraged with questions I really don’t want to answer - what happened, was it expected, when, do I need anything, stories about someone they knew who passed away, etc.

When people I know ask how my sibling is (often just small talk to be nice), it’s equally awkward to talk about it, especially because my family didn’t want it to be big news. And they still seem to ask the questions above.

Yesterday someone asked me how my sibling is doing and I didn’t want to get into it, so I said “just fine” and changed the subject, but now that’s even worse should this person ever find out what happened.

Does anyone else feel this way?[/quote]

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