The Passing

The year is 2006, a week after Thanksgiving, and my sister and I were getting off the school bus at our house after yet another long, forgettable day of school. It was especially cold that day, cutting through our sweatshirts we were wearing at the time. As we walked off the bus, we noticed our mom on the front steps of the porch, her cheeks reddened from the cold, as if she were waiting for us for a long time outside.

My sister and I ran up to mom, and gave her a big hug, and she hugged us back hard. We didn't know what was going on at the time, but we were happy to see her, as she normally came home after dark. I looked up at my mom, and she gave us a weak smile. Her mascara had been running down her face, and I noticed that she wasn't even wearing a jacket, despite the cold.

"Is something wrong?" my sister asked. Being older than me by a couple of years, she tended to catch on to things easier and quicker than me, but I was still curious about what was going on.


My mom, letting go of us from the hug, said "Do you recall how Grandpa was really sick on Thanksgiving?". I remembered it all too well. My Grandpa was bedridden for Thanksgiving, so he couldn't enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with us over at my grandparent's house. Through the walls, I could hear him coughing up a storm. I knew he was sick at the time, but never asked about how sick he actually was. I didn't know it at the time, but my Grandpa had been suffering from both Lung Cancer and Liver Cancer over the past couple of months.

My sister seemed to understand at the time, and walked inside the house, leaving me and my mom outside. Somehow, the weather seemed to be even colder than before.

My mom whispered in my ear, as if she was afraid the wind would take her words from me, "Your Grandfather died this morning."

I heard all I needed to hear, and ran inside the house, and into my room, slamming the door behind me and burying my face in my pillow for the tears that would soon follow. I never experienced a death in my family, and so I was left alone my both my sister and my mom to do one thing. To cry.