Essay #1

My uncle was a great guy, but he was an alcoholic; his name was Gera. The only bad thing about him is that it seemed like he would spend more time being drunk than sober. When he was sober he was one of the greatest guys around; he didn’t have a job but he would ride his bike everywhere with a huge smile on his face. Everyone in our neighborhood loved him, he would spend every day of the week helping our neighbors with their yard work or with washing their cars or whatever they needed. When he wasn’t busy helping the neighbors, he would spend his time playing with his nieces and nephews, including myself. He didn’t have a wife or any kids so we were like his children. He taught most of us how to swim or ride a bike, he would walk us to the liquor store around the corner and buy us chips or ice cream; he was always there for us whenever we needed him; however, his drinking problem was really bad. It was like he would turn into a completely different person when he was drunk. My mom and grandma hated it when he was drunk so they would kick him out of the house and he would go to his friend’s house around the block. What I remember most about him was watching the NFL games all day every Sunday on at night every Monday; he was a die-hard Pittsburg Steelers fan.

It was a beautiful summer morning; the sun was up and shining brighter than ever, and the birds were chirping all together as if they were just one loud bird chirping alone. I was on my way home from my soccer game with my dad when I received the worst phone call I have ever gotten in my whole life. It was my mom crying and panicking like never before. She had called to tell me that my uncle, her brother, had passed away; my heart immediately dropped. I was speechless; it felt like I had forgotten how to speak. My mind knew what I wanted to say but my mouth would just not cooperate. When I told my dad about the tragic news he rushed me home. When I got home I ran inside and I saw everyone in my family on the couch hugging each other and crying. It broke my heart to see my whole family crying like that; what hurt the most was seeing my mom and grandma on the other couch crying their beautiful hearts out, it was an image that will forever remain in my head. My grandma was the one who suffered the most; she went in his room around 9:00am to wake him up for breakfast and she realized he wouldn’t move when she yelled his name, so she went up to him and realized that he wasn’t breathing. She poked him, slapped him, yelled at him and he would not move. She started yelling for my cousin to come see what’s going on; when he realized my uncle was no longer breathing he immediately got my grandma out of the room and called 911. When I got home the police and paramedics were already there trying to figure out what happened; the police asked me to step out of the room but I begged them to let me see my uncle. After a while, they finally let me see him just for a minute. When I saw him lying on the bed lifeless I couldn’t help but to break down. In that very moment every single memory I had of him replayed in my mind over and over again.

It seemed like the whole neighborhood was depressed when they heard about my uncle’s death. The day after he passed away we found out that alcohol was the cause of his death. My grandma was depressed for months; she would just sit and cry all day and watch a show that she and my uncle would watch every morning called “Walker Texas Ranger”. Things seemed quiet around the house for a while until we realized that sitting around being miserable all day wasn’t going to bring him back or make things better; so we decided to at least try to cheer up and keep our heads up for him. After a few months we were finally able to go back to normal; however, we still shed a tear every now and then but we know my uncle would want us to continue with our lives and keep him in our memories.

My uncle’s death had a huge impact on my life because it made me realize many things. One thing I realized is that it was time for me to step up and be the man of the house; I knew it was my turn to help out my mom and grandma with anything they needed. I also realized that anything can happen at any moment, so ever since then, I have been appreciating and thanking everyone I love for being in my life and being here for me. Life is short and you should appreciate what you have before it is gone. When my uncle passed away, I promised myself I was going to be the kind of person he was when he wasn’t drunk. He was a nice, respectful, honest, trustworthy, hard-working man.

Dealing with a death in your family is never easy; but if you and your family stick together and help each other out then it will be a lot easier than sitting down and crying your eyes out all day every day. I can still hear my uncles voice in my head telling me “Don’t give up on your dreams; stay in school, do your best and please don’t do drugs or alcohol.” I believe this experience made me a better person because it made me mature and realize things that I wouldn’t have realized until I was older; however, there is not a day that passes by where I don’t think about my uncle and hope to see his face again one day.