If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. -James O’Barr
Personally, I think that I had it pretty lucky; the first time I had to attend a funeral was during my junior year of high school. Although that’s not something I go around bragging about, it is something that I'm grateful for. I saw my friends throughout elementary, middle, and high school all lose someone they loved, but I never really knew the pain that they felt. Yes, of course it saddened me when I was around them, seeing them mourning and dampened by sadness, but it never really hit me what it was like…until it happened to me.
In my late junior/early senior year of high school, I lost three out of four of my grandparents, all in a very short time span. I had a unique bond with all of them, and it was something special that I will never forget. The heartbreak that my family and I felt was overwhelming, and it seemed never ending. Each death just brought more and more sadness, one tear after another. It seemed unreal to me, that these people, the ones that I loved the most, would not be around anymore. It was a feeling that I know I will never forget, but part of me never wants to.
See, when you lose someone you love, you want to remember everything. You want to keep everything close to your heart, so that you never forget even the bad things; they all become special memories that you keep forever. You slowly replay all of the times you had with them, good and bad, and try your best to remember every conversation. You remember the laughs, the jokes, the smiles. You think about how they’ve impacted your life, how they’ve helped you succeed, and how they helped you learn to love.
After losing a loved one, you ask yourself how you're going to live without them, and question why they had to leave so soon. It becomes easy to only see the negative side of things, to find yourself in a constant state of sadness, and to isolate yourself. Mourning for a certain amount of time is healthy and normal, but your loved one knows that being sad….that isn’t best for you.
After losing my three grandparents, I learned many things that I hold close to my heart to this very day. I’ve learned to keep people close and to spend as much time with my loved ones as I can. I’ve learned to say “I love you” more often, because one day it will be the last time. I’ve learned to work harder, because I want to make them happy, even if they’re not here. Last but not least, I’ve learned to appreciate the time that I had with them, and realize how lucky I was to experience their love.
Losing a loved one isn’t easy to say the least, but you eventually come to realize that even though they’re gone, they’ll always be with you.
