Streak-breaker game-winner ... did you want a miss?

With regards to the grieving parent, technically you didn't say exactly that, but you said it [I assume] hyperbolically with your silly pet gerbil comparison. Most socially adjusted adults, as I put it, have lost something more significant than a gerbil by adulthood. Or at least they've gone through moments of panic where they thought they might have lost even more. It is not that difficult to see how we we all understand that losing a child REALLY REALLY sucks, even if we've never lost one ourselves. Mercifully, most of us will never have to know since we usually outlive our kids.

As for the money debate, I don't know what you're trying to say anymore, so I'll leave that be.