Just as you said, we all have to find a coping mechanism. Sadly, nothing ever prepares you for this kind of pain......whether they leave to the other side or they just decide to walk away from your life without looking back. There was someone I never got round to telling goodbye till I was looking at his casket. Now, almost everytime I close my eyes, I wish that I could have had more time, but then again, time is never enough innit?. I wish I would have known that his time was coming then maybe i won't have pushed back that day, I won't have rescheduled, I'd have seen him one last time, I'd have had the chance to bid him farewell. I felt horrible, I still feel horrible but this is where the coping mechanism comes in, in later years, though it doesn't prepare you for the pain per say, it catalyzes the healing to some extent.