Unanticipated separations and normative re-attachments in later life: a personal account

Unanticipated separations can have profound reverberations upon individual and family development. When these separations are at a young age the consequences tend to exert a long and lasting effect. This article presents a personal account of the abrupt separation from the author's parents, the trauma the family faced in Europe on the brink of war and how this impacted his family intergenerationally. It is suggested that loyalties and caregiving are dynamics which enable adult children to emotionally reconnect with their adult parents in later life. These renewed levels of attachments are normative in nature, enriching the family as a whole.