You say “I’ll know it’s impossible” but, of course, it isn’t *impossible*, just very highly unlikely. In such situations, when I’ve lost someone, I indulge that idea that it *could* be them – “willingly suspending disbelief”, if you like – and then return to a more rational outlook when I’m better able to cope emotionally. I sometimes think this is the difference between empirical rationalists and woo-ists – the ability to utilise useful fictions without being bamboozled by them.