Black Holes For College Tuition

My best friend Leah Nepomuceno is one of the strongest people I know, especially when it comes to family. Family to her is everything and she has done all she can to try and keep hers together as a whole. We were in sixth grade swinging on the swings outside at recess, whispering and giggling about our usual gossip when she received news from one of our teachers that we knew was serious by the look on her face and fear in her voice. She came up to us and told her she needed to go the office and that she was being dismissed, she gave me permission to walk with her inside. On the short but long felt walk inside Leah's heart was pounding, her hands were sweating, and her eyes were slowly filling with tears. Her mom was

The parents came out of Grandma’s room by one by one, bags under their eyes, makeup running down their face, and bright red noses. By that time, I could almost predict what happened. As my mom and dad approached us with their heads down, I prepared myself to hear exactly what I never wanted to hear. “The doctors are turning off the life support machine. She isn’t suffering anymore, and she will be looking over every one of you guys. She said she loves you all so much,” Mom told us while my dad didn’t hide his tears back.

I went to my living room to ask my mom a question, to see she wasn’t there. I asked my brother “where’s mom?” and he replied with “shes at the hospital, grandpa got burnt.” I would never have expected “grandpa got burnt” to be as severe as it was. I remember my mom coming home around two in the morning. I got up and out of bed to ask some questions. She said “I don’t wanna talk about it right now. Pack some stuff up, we’re going to Waterloo tomorrow.” So I listened and packed up a bag.

An ambulance came and carried out my mom. I didn’t know what was going on, so many questions running through my mind, what was wrong with her, was she going to be ok. I was scared, more scared then I had ever been. My sister Sheridan who was 8 asked me “what’s happening?” through tears. On that day a little piece of me began to change because if I let her see my fear that would not help anyone, and so even though I didn’t know what was happening I responded “everything is going to be ok” even though I did not trust my own words.

Although her death was a tragedy, it made me realize that this is the only life I will ever have, and I need to embrace every aspect of it and not take one millisecond of it for

A Journey in Grief: A Mothers Experience Following the Death of her Daughter by Alice W. Terry describes how the loss of someone so dear to you is unimaginable. When I was thirteen I lost my grandmother. She had been sick for a long time; I remember going to visit her in the hospital many times before she passed. The death of my grandmother was my first and only personal experience with the loss of a family member. Although this reality makes it hard for me to relate to this article at a personal level, I am truly grateful for the health and well being of those closest to me. Only being thirteen at this time, I was old enough to comprehend what had happened but I had not been old enough to truly experience the sorrow of losing someone. When I lost my grandmother, all I remember doing is crying. Although I was expressing emotion and grieving her loss, I do not remember having a conversation about what happened. How was I feeling? What is going through my head? Looking back now, it is frustrating to accept the fact that no one truly knew how to comfort me.

September 27th 2009. I was on my dad’s weekend and my mom was in the hospital for a weeks. I would visit her every day and sometimes bring her flowers. But on september 27th I woke up and walked into my living room and my dad was sitting on the couch looking sad. I asked what was wrong and then a knock was heard on the door it was my step dad and half brother. My step dad had puffy eyes he was crying. He told me to sit down and my brother came out and sat next to me. My dad looked at us and he spoke up your mother had just passed this morning. I was shocked I was hurt I was scared.I didn’t know if i should cry or run away. I’ve learned that losing someone you love is tough.

However, she had never planned to live her life without him; she had never planned for it to feel so damning, she had handled the death of loved ones before, she had seen death most of her life as a Doctor. Nevertheless, this death hurt, her word felt so empty and she had not realised that this emptiness was even possible.

They swarmed around me. The tears felt like fire. I heard worried, faint murmurs. “she's not going to make it”, and they're reassuring my crying, helpless parents, “she's going to be alright”. Even though I was so young, I thought that this was it. The fear. The pain. The sorrow. The memories still haunt me to this day.

When I was a very young child, my mom died. It was an accident, or, at least, that’s what my dad always told me. I never quite believed it, but I knew better than to push it at that time. Because I had a sister to support – Samantha. She was four years younger than me, and she was my responsibility from the very beginning. Or so my father tried to convince me. I was always to be taking care of Sammy – Sammy came first. Everything was about her, but I could tell her nothing.

As she shared this with me I could see in her eyes that this statement was genuine by the way her eyes locked with mine and the corners of her eyes lifted upwards as if her eyes were even smiling themselves. The farther in depth she went into this topic the more she unveiled her true colors to me. Gabrielle is the oldest sister of three and had to do more than most children should ever have too. When Gabrielle was still just a child at age 11 her mother had been in a car accident that put her in the hospital for months. “This was terrifying for me as a kid because my moms’ sister died before I was born and I had no idea what would happen next.” As she spoke it was obvious that this was a soft spot for her. Her voice became unsteady as she spoke about the traumatizing event in her life. Unsure of her mother’s critical condition, Gabrielle knew she had to be strong for her sisters and stay positive. “I knew that I had to be there for my sisters. My Dad worked until about six every night and I had to make sure my sisters were okay until he got home. I would make sure that

Pulling into the cemetery on a Sunday morning always has a gloomy feeling to it. Especially when it’s deserted and you’re driving quietly through with your grandma in the driver's seat, who's sitting more stiff than usual. As she pulls up to my grandpa’s grave and parks, is when I don't know what to do, and where she has so much she can do. She starts off by going to the back seat to collect the bouquet of flowers she goes out and gets every week for him. Slowly approaching his grave, she places the flowers and gently caresses his tomb, then proceeds to take a few steps back. After a few moments of silence, we start to say a prayer together, yet it doesn't take long until it's over and tears start streaming down her face. Barely remembering him, I didn't have the same emotions to share, I couldn't even understand why she was crying, I wanted to tell her she doesn't have to, but I simply didn't understand, so I'd stay quiet. As she gets herself together, we both return to the car, where she sits down,

Grandpa’s cancer had gotten so bad that the entire family had gathered around him. Alone, I was sent for help. I was only fourteen and I remember thinking to myself, “God please don’t take him before I get to say goodbye!” I was running so quickly and it was so dark that I tripped and barely caught my balance. Even though we hurried back, he was gone. It was the worst thing that could have happened to me. All I remember is dropping to the ground in a puddle of tears; I didn’t think God would just take him from us like that. I didn’t even get to say goodbye or that I loved him. It was so unfair. He was gone from our lives, but not our hearts. Even so, I felt as though I failed because we didn’t make it back in time.

A small, cool breeze blew my hair, making it dance in the air for a couple of seconds, before dying down. It was in the middle of March, the sky was sunny and innocent looking, as if nothing happened, but something did. The group of people dressed in black surrounded and stared at the cold, empty looking stone. The pain of her loss hitting me like a ton of bricks. I thought to myself, how was a headstone with her name carved into it, ever going to amount to what she did in life, all the happiness that she spread? Where would she be when we needed her? I had to accept the bitter, hard truth, she wouldn’t be with me anymore. I glanced over to my mom who was silently weeping while looking at the gravestone. A small tear slid down the side of my face, slightly glittering

“Have a good day at school Lili,” my mom said to me as I was running out the door to catch the bus. I had barely caught the bus to go to school. When I got to school I had knew that my grandma was going to Heaven today, even though my parents did not tell me that I just knew she was because of how bad she was doing with her stage 4 cancer. I could barely focus at school because I was just waiting to know what had happened even if she had passed away, because I knew when she passed away she would be in a much better place than here on Earth where she was in pain but when she is in Heaven she will have know pain and know cancer.