My mother left behind three daughters when she went to America and started a new life. I certainly felt abandoned when my father died of a brain tumour; I felt he had abandoned me to this terrible, volatile mother and I had no protection.
My dad is my dad, but he's not there physically anymore. But she lets me call her 'Dad' - that's the last little piece of Dad I've got.
My mother died when I was five, and all I did was sit and cry. I cried and cried and cried all day, until the neighbors went away.
My father died when I was nine and a half. We were on relief for two years. They call it welfare now, but it was relief then... I never forgot the generosity of New York.
My dad died 11 years ago, I don't see much of my brothers, and I rarely speak to my mum. I don't hold a grudge, but being separated in those early years clearly had an impact. Our relationship didn't develop as it ought to.
I lost my mother when I was 7 and they put her in a mental hospital. My brother and I watched her being taken away in a strait jacket. That's something you never forget. And my stepmother was like in the movie 'Precious.' I couldn't handle it. So I said to myself, 'I don't have a mother. I don't need one. I'm going to let music be my mother.'
I lost my biological father when I was 9, I lost my stepfather at 23. Both men had such a deep impact in my understanding of life.
It's still hard for me to think about Sept. 11 sometimes. I'm still angry. It's hard to watch my daughters, Celia and Zaya, grow up and know they'll never see their father. They'll always be 9/11 girls, and I wish I could shield them from that. Everyone has an immediate pity for them. It is a sad thing, but the girls are also so happy.
My mother died in 2005. She was 61 years old.
My father passed away when I was 12, so it was very difficult. But I was always the class clown. I don't know why - maybe as an escape. But then I was sent away to military prep school.
Can you imagine, I lost my mother at age six? My childhood ended then.
My dad died when I was a kid, so I think it became a place for me to go where my mom knew that I was safe and taken care of and looked after.
In truth, I barely knew my father at all. He was 53 when I was born, and when I was ten he contracted cancer. Eight years later, in 1979, he died.
Even more than getting married or having kids, I found losing a parent is what thrusts you into adulthood. For me it was. That was when the Earth tilted on its axis, and there was a paradigm shift, and I felt like a different person.
I grew up in a very open-minded family. My father died when I was very little, so my mother was really, really incredibly busy trying to provide for us.
Who ne'er knew joy but friendship might divide,Or gave his father grief but when he died.
My parents separated when I was two, and then my father passed away, so I never really knew that side of the family.
I lost my mom when I was young.
My father passed away when I was seven, mom single-handedly brought up my brother Rahul and me. She was a civil surgeon posted in rural areas. We went through some tough times but she gave us a beautiful life.
When you're 6 or 7, your father becomes this wonderful presence in your life. I really responded to my father. And then, the very moment I realized that I loved him unconditionally, that life was going to be great just because he was in it, he was gone.
I was pretty depressed when I was a teenager. The thing that spurred that on was that my dad died from cancer when I was 11 years old.
My father was unwell when I was 11, had a stroke at 14 and died when I was 18. My mother going to work at seven in the morning and coming back to look after him and me and my brother left its mark on me.
I lost my mother when I was very young, and my father when I was in college.
After clearing the land, planting the orchard, building the house and barn, and surviving the Great Depression, our father died suddenly one winter night when we were small, leaving us to learn about loss before we even knew its name.
My mother was really amazing and left me with a whole lot of treasures. I miss her terribly.