My niece Rachel is getting married. Two weeks shy of her 23rd birthday. So young yet so mature. While she is getting married, my other niece Deena is knee-deep in her first year of law school. And through all this, we, as a family, are still in grief over my dear nephew Jason who committed suicide in June at the age of 34.
This will be our first family event since his death. His wife is coming and bringing a copy of his death certificate for me. I must have it.
Over the years I have collected as many of my family members birth and death certificates including my mother, father and brother - a brother I never knew. After nine months and labor pains, my mother experienced the horror of her only son dying in her arms. She never talked about it.
I don't want to repeat that silent pain so I share. Share my nephews death. Share my grief and loss. Share how bittersweet it is to watch one sister celebrate a wedding while the other sister is facing the same pain my mother experienced: Death of a son.
And it will be good for the latter to celebrate life moving on and moving forward. Because it does. And so will I. Eventually.
My niece Rachel is getting married. Two weeks shy of her 23rd birthday. So young yet so mature. While she is getting married, my other niece Deena is knee-deep in her first year of law school. And through all this, we, as a family, are still in grief over my dear nephew Jason who committed suicide in June at the age of 34.
This will be our first family event since his death. His wife is coming and bringing a copy of his death certificate for me. I must have it.
Over the years I have collected as many of my family members birth and death certificates including my mother, father and brother - a brother I never knew. After nine months and labor pains, my mother experienced the horror of her only son dying in her arms. She never talked about it.
I don't want to repeat that silent pain so I share. Share my nephews death. Share my grief and loss. Share how bittersweet it is to watch one sister celebrate a wedding while the other sister is facing the same pain my mother experienced: Death of a son.
And it will be good for the latter to celebrate life moving on and moving forward. Because it does. And so will I. Eventually.
