DEATH AMOUNG US

Death: the act of dying; the end of life; the total and permanent cessation of all the vital functions of an organism.

Now for the story:

I once knew a 13 year old boy back in 1996. Full of life, love, peace, joy, happiness and many more enduring traits. Every person that had known him had loved and cared for him dearly. On January 20, his great-grandma had past away from Alzheimer’s. It wasn’t a complete and total shock to anyone in the family, including him because she had lived well into her eighties. The boy grieved for his lost, knowing he still had grandpa and grandma.

Nine months later on September 16, the boy lost his grandpa to a severe stroke. His death marked the second in the year for the boy.  He had gained some peace from the final song of his grandpa’s funeral service, entitled: Let There Be Peace on Earth. His grieving for his grandpa was enduring but that was only the beginning of what seemed to be the end.

Less than a month later on October 7, another blow had been stricken to the boy’s heart. After believing his grandma had won the war with cancer, she had only won the battles of the cancer. After the death of grandpa, grandma had completely shut down and gave up. It was only a matter of time but the cancer had won the war. It had spread to her mental capacities (her mind) and defeated her. Her funeral and burial happen two days later on the boy’s birthday. It had devastated the boy’s heart to go through that, he was ordered to help carry his grandma’s casket and then to stand in front of all the people in the cemetery to hold onto a vile of sand that was later placed on the casket as a cross. He didn’t grieve at all. No tears were shed at all, for the boy was no longer concerned for his well being but for the well being of his immediate family. He stood strong for the younger siblings and cousins. He appeared strong, but in denial of death. The boy never fully recovered from the death of his grandma…

Almost eight months later, the boy was ripped and torn away from his friends that he had from his home. His mother made the decision to leave and move to where his grandparents had lived. The decision had somewhat crippled the boy further from recovery at the time. He had gone through the motions of life but hadn’t really but the heart and soul into it as he use to. His shell did the work while the boy hid within himself.

In 1999, the boy was in his junior year of high school, he met a girl and they dated. The boy’s void that was created almost three years prior was now being filled by the girl. As much happiness came out from the relationship, so did pain and angry. It was in 2002 that the girl broke his heart and left him. To him she had died and the cycle repeated itself again. To the boy he had just lost his grandma all over again. The boy went into a very regressive stage of three months where depression completely ran-amuck.

He submerged slightly to take some responsibility again by going to college. Unfortunately, the boy pushed aside taking care of himself and went back to taking care of those he loved and grew very fond of. His friends were his stronghold and kept him from falling into the despair that was still lurking. Sadly though, his first year of college was a mental blow, taking his goodness and kindness and counseling his friends. It had drained him completely, so he left.

Any relationship the boy had with girls to follow afterwards, ended awful. Out of the five that he had been in, only two were first-rate and honest. He had enjoyed their friendship immensely. However, what the boy did was wrong. He had been searching and trying desperately to find his grandma and no matter what, he will never find his grandma. It took an honest and kind person to tell the boy that he could finally grieve his lost. After being told he could finally go grieve for his grandma, he finally did. On December 1 of this year, the boy went to where his grandma was laid and broke down for two hours of crying because in his heart he had started to realize that his grandma was no longer here with him.

And the boy in the story is me.

Quote Of The Day: (Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King)

Frodo Baggins: "How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on... when in your heart... you begin to understand... there is no going back?"

Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King (2003)