I think you are being I little insensitive to others, by asserting the way you feel about the loss of a spouse so vehemently....do we really need the emphatic capital letters? The loss of a spouse is unique to each of us....each and every one of us may have experienced loss, but our losses are felt differently. A multitude of different factors determine how we react to our loss of a loved one, spouse or child, or any other close family member or friend, and it is presumptuous to assume that how you regard and feel the loss will be the same as how everyone else will. Some people need to feel that physical presence more than others, and may need a much longer period to adjust to that tactile loss. I probably feel nearer to your own view of loss than some of the others here, but I can empathise with their needs and feelings without trampling on them.

Well hey now. "Just" physical isn't some small thing. No new conversations, no more companionable silence, no more sex, no more a lot of things. Maybe even no more of those fabled walks on the beach.

Yes one should always focus on what one has, rather than on what one doesn't. Because what choice do you have. But if it's no big deal that our SO isn't physically with us and most of the benefits of being with them is old memories and their offspring (which BTW may or may not be much of an avatar for them), then why do we even bother?

Then you rub salt in the wound by proclaiming, apparently, that those who are sad at losing their partner are not just mistaken, not just wrong, but WRONG!

Not in my wound, mind you, mine is as scarred over as it's going to be and I have moved on to another relationship drama, thank you very much. But I feel the need to defend my fellow travelers a bit.