Day 17: A photo that makes you want to cry.
This is a picture of an Obituary of a childhood friend, Charles. He grew up in the subdivision down the street from my house. We became friends shortly after my family and I moved to Richmond. We went to school together and rode the same bus. We attended high school together and continued to be friends. Even ended up in home room together in 10th grade... our last names are far from the same letter grouping and to be honest, I'm forgetting how that happened.. I think he got in trouble and they had to change his homeroom due to a conflict with another student? I don't remember. A couple years after graduation we lost contact. Mostly due to the fact that at the time I didn't even have a cell phone, facebook and myspace weren't around.... basically keeping in contact was hard for people living in separate towns and leading busy lives. If we ran into each other it was like no time had passed. Although we didn't run into each other often...... turns out not often enough....
In January 2005, I received a call from a friend. We hadn't talked much because of the holidays keeping us both busy as heck. About 20 minutes into the conversation she asked "so... how was the funeral? I'm assuming you went since you all use to be so close". I respond with "umm..who's funeral?" *silence* "Did you not know? Did nobody tell you?" I at this point am feeling like I've been kicked in the stomach, it's apparent SOMEONE I know has died. "What are you talking about, who died?" "I don't want to be the one to tell you..." "Well, you have to tell me now because there is no other choice". "Charles died in November.. suicide".........
I can still hear those words and still to this day get sick to my stomach thinking about it. I knew Charles had a lot of things going on and a lot of issues he was dealing with, but suicide? I think this was the first suicide I had ever dealt with, and I'm struggling to think of one that I've had since then as well. And to top it off, I didn't even know and never had the chance to attend the funeral to pay my respects.
It's never easy to find out someone you care for has passed. It's never easy to find out that it was self induced, and it's never easy to realize that both occurred 2 months ago, and you never even knew.
Friends, family, enemies, and strangers.... I beg of you, tell the people you love that you love them. You never know if you will ever get the chance again. It's easier to annoy people with your words of affection than to wonder if they knew when it's too late.
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