She passed at the age of 43 eight years ago.
I'm just a tiny bit younger than that now.
You've done a tremendous! job, then.
I have some kids that I 'surrogate' who lost their mom at a very young age. I've always just been mortified to contemplate how Hubby would ever manage to finish the job alone ; ) or better stated, how the kids would manage to survive with him, without me ; ) Hubby suffered the loss himself, similar to your kids. It was very tough. Dads just sometimes don't realize how very, very important they really are. FIL is terminal presently, and the range of emotion is off the charts underneath, and very quiet on the surface.
Keep on truckin', you must be doing something right!