Learning from a Loss

I cried myself to sleep for months. His death was affecting my family, my friends, and my grades. I never would have guessed that a phone call could be so life changing, but that night, it was. His death made me believe that you should appreciate the people in your life.

When I was about nine years old, my grandpa died. My family had just come home from a nice dinner to find a very sad message on our phone machine. This message was of my uncle crying. He was trying to get out the words “Your dad, your father in law, and your grandfather just passed away.” My family was in total shock. He had been in and out of the hospital for various reasons but we never really thought about him actually dying.

Since this was my dad’s father who lived in England, their home country, only my dad went over there to attend the funeral. I wasn’t very close to my grandfather. I had only met him a few times, but just knowing that there was a part of me that wasn’t there anymore, hurt me a lot.

For a few months after his death, I felt like everyone was leaving me. I felt so alone. Although this was what I was feeling, in reality, my friends and family were incredibly supportive. It took me so long to realize that I was the only one keeping myself from being happy. Everyone else was just trying to please me and be there for me when I needed the extra push.

My family and I have grown closer and closer just by talking about what happened and sharing our feelings with each other. I now feel if something like that happened again they would be there for me. Without the help from my family, I don’t know where I would be now. I hate to say this but my grandfather’s death really did bring my family closer together.

It is so easy to take people for granted and to not realize their importance in your life. People make you feel something whether it be good or bad and appreciating them could be the best decision to make. You never know who will walk into your life and then run out of it without warning.