Does the fear ever stop?

[tavalon]

8. The fear changes and morphs but no, that fear never really takes a hike

Would that it would. I find brief respite at work when I have a really sick baby who needs all of my attention. And the two minutes after the wake up alarm has gone off but before the waves crash over me.

It's not surprising that you are afraid, but if it seems out of proportion to what your friend is going through, you could be grieving something else at the same time. Grief, if stuffed, can piggyback onto all sorts of things. I grieved my mother's death (from 30 years prior) as I was losing a relationship with a man who reminded me of my mother's nurturent way.