Dennis P Kimbro Lessons

My grandmother, who is the mother of my mom, passed away due to heart failure at the age of 87. Since I was 6 or 7 she had been living in our house. The reason for that was, my grandfather, that I was named after passed away a year before I was born, so she was alone, and she was starting to get old. Since she lived with us for so many years, she had been a very important figure in my life. I can honestly say that she was like a 3rd parent for me, and losing her, made me fell horrible and helpless. I witnessed how real death is because of her passing. Combined with puberty, my grief caused me to become depressed for a long time. As I’m looking back it sounds really extreme, but there were some days that I did not even leave the bed thinking that there was no point to our existence. Thanks to some psychological counselling however, I was able to overcome that mental

Her name was Toni Gamez and she was a stranger that I naively let into my life not knowing what would come of it. She was a survivor. Not of a natural disaster, not of a vehicle accident, but of life itself. Seven attempted suicides, years of drug abuse, weeks of hospital visits, all for something much greater than one could ever comprehend. Now, I am not implying that God made her do all these things, but He kept her from cutting the last chord for a reason. He knew everything she went through would one day help hundreds of girls; one of those girls being me.

At some point along the way, she inspired me to begin journaling my thought and feelings. The journaling continued through high school and the once angry, sad and isolated adolescent became a happy, personable, social teenager. In my thirties I became the person that everyone came to for advice and for a sympathetic voice. I am still to this day the go to person to help people sort through their feelings and frustrations for friend and co-workers. So many people have said “You should write a book.” During a difficult time in my life, I did just that. This book was not for anyone to ever see or publish, but was a collection of writings and stories of how I became who I am today. Maybe someday someone will find it and believe it is interesting enough to publish. Once again, there goes my

I barely knew her, or her daughter who I had just became friends with a few months prior. It was never asked of me, nor expected. Still yet, I went on to care for her until she took her last breath.

I suffered the loss of both of my parents when they were in their early 60’s. My parents were wonderful individuals who taught my sister and I how to love one another and be good servants of the Lord. After their passing, I became very jealous of friends and family that were blessed to still have both or at least one of their parents that they could love, laugh and enjoy spending time with. I knew this was not the Christian way to feel nonetheless I felt cheated. What I gained from my loss was the closeness that I have with my sister today.

Her funeral was very different than any funeral I’d ever been to. After they lowered her casket, each one of us put a shovelful of dirt over her. I remember crying so hard, I felt weak. My cheeks burned from the tears. My whole body was shaking as I picked up the shovel, but I’m glad I did

She was always there for me when it came to me and my dreams. At this part of my life singing was my saver, was my healer, was my joy and was my only hope. This part of my life was when I lost my childhood, my grandmother died she was my heart and when no one was there for me music was. When she died I lost hope in everything, to me the world took everything from me. I guess everyone thought I would be okay because I was still a child. But no one knew about the bond that me and her obtained, there came many times in my life when I thought about ending it all because I had no one by my side to help me. But thank god I had music, when Mariah Carey made the song “Bye Bye” it got me through a lot of the hard

Have you ever lost someone that you thought was invincible? One day they are here and the next they are gone. My grandma Suzie passed away in 2004. She emigrated over from Mexico when she was approximately thirteen years old. She met my grandpa Joe when she was twenty and had three children. Unfortunately, my grandpa passed away. She met my grandpa Tom and they got married. They fostered children all the time. Maria, who lives in Texas now, come to the funeral and talked very highly of my grandmother. My grandmother was the best baker, story teller and gave people the best opportunities she could.

The spring break before this happened my mom’s cat even brought a dead bird to the door step but I was still not prepared. All these small things clicked later on; but God could not prepare me enough for the day my grandpa left earth. For a short time in my life he was like my dad. I lived with him for almost a whole year at one point. My real dad has passed away so my grandpa was always special to

Though some may say, myself included, that the death of a family member is one of the hardest, toughest, traumatic things to deal with, it also comes with a good side. That good side is that it brings people together to not only mourn over a loss, but to celebrate the life of someone great. One can either sink from a situation like this, or one can rise. I feel like my family and I chose to rise from this. We were all changed in so many ways. My grandma, Veronica, was especially changed the most. She and my granddad did absolutely everything together. They

Her compassion for me really shined bright during that hard time. My parents no longer show compassion for each other anymore like they do for me.

When my father died, my life changed drastically, but I did not realize it yet. I was only eight years old; his death did not fully click, it had no affect on me. As I grew older, that is when it finally became apparent. The death of my father encouraged me to strive and stay driven when it came to reaching my goals and helping out other people. I became more focused on my education, on my future, and also on my family. I have always been told, I am a reflection of him and I surely wouldn't want to let him or my relatives down.

I once had a great grandmother, who I had done a lot with. Who I had told everything to. A great grandma who I felt comfortable and welcomed around. But suddenly there was a day, a day where I went to see her in the nursing home and had seen her take her last breath. As the paramedics showed up, it was horrifying.

And she would always say oh my gosh she said Aunt Duh so from there on out I had always called her Aunt Duh. Yeah it sounds dumb but I could care less. She was the most kind, caring person I have ever met. She always wanted to help other people before herself. She had always wanted other people to be happy, she wouldn't want us to cry but it's hard. Losing people you love is horrible. You never expect it to come, but you always need to treat the people you love good because you never know when they will pass away. What if one day you get in a huge fight with someone and the next day, or not even a day they pass away? Won't you feel bad, It's hard enough to lose them and be at good terms but the fact that you weren't and good terms makes it so much harder. Anyways like I was saying she always would put other people first and she would put herself

When I was six, my aunt died from a stroke. She wasn't the first of my mom’s siblings to pass away. Her younger brother had also passed five years prior. The wounds in her and the rest of my family’s hearts were still fresh, which, I suppose, added to the tragedy of my aunt. Moreover, she was like my second mother; she was like all of my cousins’ second mother to be honest. My aunt never had kids herself, but she was always playful and loving which made all the kids gravitate towards her. Well, that and we all knew that she would spoil us rotten. Knowing she was going to be gone forever gouged a hole in my heart and sometimes I still feel as if it hasn't fully healed. However, I learned that although my aunt isn't here physically, she, along with my uncle, will live on through the memory of my family and me.