A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes.

Expecting something for a long time builds a picture of it, and the real thing never quite matches the picture. Good news long hoped for can arrive on an ordinary afternoon and still catch you off guard. The death of someone who has been ill for a long time can land as if there had been no warning at all, because anticipation prepares you for an idea rather than for the event.

So if something long expected leaves you shaken, numb or not at all as you pictured, nothing has gone wrong with you. Give yourself time to meet what has actually happened instead of the version you rehearsed. Grief especially keeps its own pace, however much warning came first.