How do you deal with being the last one?

[SweatyBetty20]

My sibling died unexpectedly this week. My parents died when we were in our twenties, and due to relatives either not getting married or not having kids, our family has dwindled to almost nothing. I have a few distant relatives, both in terms of relationships and distance, but I'm the last one of our family unit. Apart from the shock of losing my sibling, the PM, the funeral arrangements etc, I'm struggling with the fact that if I forget happy memories, they'll be gone forever. I have a partner but no children; I just can't comprehend that I'm not even 50 and I'm the last one left. How do I even start to comprehend this?

[DinosaurDiana]

Would you consider writing yourself a book with memories written down and pictures stuck in ?
Would you consider doing something like planting a tree in yours and your sister’s name so it will still be there long after you have gone ?

[Geogaddi]

Hi OP,

I'm so sorry you've been through all this and are feeling this way. I'm messaging because i also feel this way. I'm 40 and the youngest of a very large family who i have zero relationship with. I am an only child who doesn't have children and recently started dating an older man. The last two years i've suddenly realised my "fate" as it were and panic daily every day that i'm going to end up totally alone in this world.

All i can say is that it's a perfectly normal and natural emotion to feel. You're not alone. Life has a tendency to be uncertain and unexpected and none of us can predict how our lives will play out. The best thing you can do is appeciate every friendship, relationship and don't take for granted all those happy moments in your life. You can be happy and fulfilled in life just as much as someone with family around them.

[FluffyFluffyClouds]

I get you 100%.
My Mum's side of the family was almost all women and when I was little I had granny, great granny, great aunties...So many stories.
She died a couple of years ago and I have some of the stories written down, things I inherited from her with family meaning, photographs etc and when I go in another 20-30 years they'll be meaningless and probably thrown out or sold. I'm the last one to remember these people or the stories about them.
It's sad but it's part of the human condition. I can't really see what the nephews and nieces (none of whom come from Mum's side of the family) would do with the old photo albums etc.