meaning of "over the years"

[user_user]

A letter to my mom - what I'd like my deceased mother to know

Dear Mom, First, let me apologize for taking so long to write. It’s been 48 years since you left us. You, just 29, and me, just three and a half. This letter is long overdue. I’m 51 now. It’s not a ripe old age […]

vivfortoday.com

(I wish you weren’t a stranger.

Mark remembers you. He was eight when you passed away. Sometimes I envy the fact that he has his memory to go on. Other times, though, I think I got off lucky. Especially when it comes to Mimi. She married dad a couple of years after you passed. The poor thing went from zero kids to two kids over the course of a registry office wedding and a few finger sandwiches. I was young and I welcomed her with open arms. Despite becoming motherless when you passed, I have never felt motherless, and I’m thankful for that.)

They say you left a gap.

"Over the years, therapists tried to get me talking about the massive gap you’d left in my life, but I couldn’t tap into it. For a while, I didn’t believe them. I truly thought they were looking for something that simply wasn’t there. Then I had Anna."

(As I reflected on the bond she and I shared by the time she was three years old, I thought about you a lot. About the bond you and I must have shared and about the gap you must have left, even though I could never quite put my finger on it. Mostly, though, I thought about how hard it must have been for you to know that you were going to leave me. Leave us.)

Question:

Here, about how many years is "over the years"? From directly after her mom died until about when?

 

[emsr2d2]

Here, about how many years is "over the years"? From directly after her mom died until about when?

That's impossible to answer. For a start, we don't know that she started therapy directly after her mum died. When she did start, she might have had therapy for three years or thirty.

 

[user_user]

That's impossible to answer. For a start, we don't know that she started therapy directly after her mum died. When she did start, she might have had therapy for three years or thirty.

so "over the years" here mostly likely means three years or "thirty"?

 

[Piscean]

No. it's impossible to say how long it means, as emsr2d2 told you.

 

[user_user]

No. it's impossible to say how long it means, as emsr2d2 told you.

Ok, "over the years"=3-30 years. What about "for a while"? about how many years does that suggest here? or should i ask that in another post

 

[emsr2d2]

so "over the years" here mostly likely means three years or "thirty"?

Ok OK/Okay, "over the years" space here = space here 3-30 years.

No. I just gave those numbers as an example. I could have said "two years or ninety" or any combination of numbers.
Note that you can write "OK" or "Okay" at the start of a sentence, and "OK" or "okay" elsewhere in a sentence. "Ok" is always wrong.

What about "for a while"? About how many years does that suggest here no question mark here or should I ask that in another post?

It has no specific definition. I'm not going to randomly suggest numbers again in case you incorrectly take it as a definitive answer.

You must start every sentence with a capital letter.
Always capitalise the word "I" (first person singular pronoun).
Don't start a sentence with "or".

 

[emsr2d2]

@user_user In your latest post, you have completely ignored what I told you about capitalisation of the word "I" and the first word of a sentence. I have removed your post from public view. Please post it again, following those rules.

 

[user_user]

@user_user In your latest post, you have completely ignored what I told you about capitalisation of the word "I" and the first word of a sentence. I have removed your post from public view. Please post it again, following those rules.

OK, from now on, I'll strictly follow the capitalization rules.

 

[Tarheel]

Somebody important to her (her mother) died. That left a gap. The "gap" is the absence of her mother.

 

[probus]

"Over the years" is a fixed expression meaning "during a fairly lengthy interval". Although as others have pointed out above we can't be sure how many years are meant, we can be sure it's more than a few.

 

[Skrej]

The only thing we know for sure it that it's no more than 48 years, because that's how long ago her mother died. That would be the absolute maximum IF she entered therapy immediately after her mother's death.

However, we have no idea how long she waited to start therapy.