Let the tears flow..in spite of the pain, they are healing and washing away the emptiness and pain that we feel.
You have not done anything to deserve this. Read HB's post today on Let Go, Let God..it explains so well why they have to go ALONE on this journey.
Unfortunately he can't come home that easily..he has to do the work that he needs to do to find himself. Some will and return, others will just keep running I think..but eventually they all have to do something to stop their pain.
For whatever reason, we are a source of their pain even though we did not necessarily do anything to cause the pain. It's almost "mysterious" because there are many, many "reasons" that they are where they are...developmental, biochemical, unresolved issues relating from childhood, pressures and stressors and perhaps an ambiguity that has existed all along about whether they ever wanted to be husbands and fathers.
Perhaps, for the first time in their lives, they are being true to their inner selves and their inner needs. The anguish that we feel is because we became so much a part of them..we loved being a part of them and they have had to cut that part off..because in spite of how much this hurts us...they cannot continue on their path with what they feel is an albatross around their necks.
Only by cutting us out of their lives, will he be able to face where the pain is coming from.
And perhaps realize that the pain remains, in spite of the fact that they have walked away from us, their families and our love.