Personal Narrative: Always Go To A Funeral

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Witnessing death was something that came surprisingly easy for me. I didn’t scream, I didn’t become sick, I was oddly settled.

My maternal aunt gathered us together and we all sat on the couch. She turned to my mother and told us she had cancer. I looked at my aunt and I did not know what to say or how to respond. Three months later, my father received a phone call from his sister telling him that my pregnant cousin, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with leukemia and had to give birth to her premature baby. She and I grew up in the same house in Arizona and what hurt me the most was not being able to be with her during this difficult time. When we went to visit her in Arizona, my dad told us before entering the hospital room that he did not want us to cry in front of her. I was scared to enter. I did not know what to say to her but I knew I had to be strong. We stayed there for the holiday season but we never celebrated the holidays, that was too

Cozy coffee shops, warm summers, friendly hugs…1.2.3. Disastrous events occur all the time. We are always aware that someone, somewhere in the world, is hurtling forwards into tragedy. Tragic endings leave behind unanswered questions, unfulfilled dreams, unspoken thoughts. Those who love you are left behind, in the dust of your presence, spent to forever remember only your memory, not your existence. Crisp slices of toast, piping hot cups of tea, fresh strawberries…1.2.3. We all tend to forget an end exists. We spend our lives compiling as many happy memories as we can, fully enjoying the good days, deeply mourning the sad ones. When tragedy strikes, only then are we reminded that the end is there, and we scurry and try once again to make the most out of

I just could not believe what happened. My night was going so good, then all of a sudden it turned into a nightmare. The entire ride home I just stared out the window at the pitch black sky. My dad and I never spoke a word the whole time. When we approached the place where I wrecked, I tensed up and closed my eyes. It made me sick to my stomach to see the truck upside down. The next thing I knew we were pulling into my driveway. When I got inside, I hugged my dad and told him I loved him and I was sorry for what happened. I then did what the nurse said and went in the shower. As I stood in the shower with the warm water hitting my face, the accident kept playing over and over in my head. With all of the glass and dirt washed out of my hair, I went to bed. It was beyond relaxing to lay in my bed. I layed there for a few moments,then slowly drifted to

People should be crying because of the great memories they have made with you and not just that the person is gone. Instead of contemplating about how you will live without that person you should be seeing it as an opportunity for that person. You should learn from your loved one’s death and grow not crumple up into a ball and cry. Recollect on the individual’s past and learn from the advice you may just now notice is helpful. Instead of becoming gloomy with you thoughts embrace the fact that they are gone and know that they will always be by your side and you may not know it at the particular moment.

The reality that someone has been removed eternally from your lifetime is a large, unwieldy fact to come to terms with. However, the funeral provides a psychological point of closure so that healing may begin. As stated by Selected Funeral Homes, “…a loved one's death is much more of a process-requiring hours, days, and even weeks to fully believe the reality. Because this realization of death is not instantaneous, funeral rituals help people gradually accept that their loved one has made the transition from here to there.” This is an important point to ponder and internally understand in a world of instant gratification and resets. Often seen in the American pop culture of film, TV, and video game violence are the numerous deaths and gruesome ends that characters meet. It is all too easy to focus on the hero’s triumph, or hit the reset button one more time. It is a world of quick reward and feedback, and if that has not been achieved, you do it again until you are satisfied. It is critical to realize that there is a permanent “game over” for people and things in the real world in order to re-shift focus on coming together as a society to create and celebrate a shared piece of

When my mom arrived home from work I told her how my dad insulted me in public space in front of my friend because of his stupid rule that he claimed I broke. My mom was really annoyed by the situation, so she went and spoke to my dad about it. Did that solve the problem? Well, hell no! It only made matters worse. Dad's face got darker, his pupils expanded, breathing rapidly and his heart rate increases. Bang, bang, bang across my mom's face. she fell to the ground, got up and walked away.

A true friend is someone who is always by your side and appreciates who you really are. I am Liesel Memminger and I was fortunate enough to have Rudy Stiener as my best friend. He was kind and compassionate yet a Saukerl at the same time, a mixture only Rudy could accomplish, and I am here to share my personal experiences with him.

We looked at each other, stood up, and headed down the big hallway and around the corner to find my mom gasping at the fact that her water had broken. This was a surprise seeing as she was not due to give birth to my little sister for another two weeks. Once again, we were out the door and in the car. My grandmother did not put me in my car seat right and I remember struggling to free my arms the entire ride. My mom sat in the front seat yelling and muttering words under her breath. I was afraid because my mom was in such a strange state but I soon realized that she was yelling more at my grandmother than at her painful stomach. Every time we approached traffic, she gasped and turned behind her with her hand on my car seat, as to secure me from some ejecting force. It was not until years later that I was told all of the stories about what a terrible driver my grandmother was and how many cars she destroyed in various "incidents," as my grandfather calls them. We reached the hospital in plenty of time, but with one problem remaining, my grandfather and dad remained uninformed and unreachable as the resided among thousands of intoxicated football fans. They arrived in just enough time to see my mom before she had my sister, but not without strategic methods to get a hold of them. They first had to be paged over the intercom and when that seized to succeed, event staff members were sent to find them standing

My dad's brother told me to stop playing the song, now was not the time to be playing music. He then told me to come into the kitchen with him, after going into the kitchen, I noticed prepared food and deserts on all of the counters and then I was confused. If there was a party going on why was everybody crying? He turned me around, so I was facing him as I was scanning the kitchen trying to understand why all this prepared food was here, and no one was having any. My uncle Ray looked me right in the face, and said one sentence that changed my life forever. And that sentence was “YOUR SISTER JACKIE IS DEAD.” Jackie was sixteen years old, at the time of her death. Jackie died as the result of a car crash on the way to the picnic. If my two friends and I had gone to the picnic, we would have suffered the same fate. Needless to say I Ioved my sister Jackie very much.

Due to economic circumstances and my father's alcohol abuse, my family suffered from family problems and emotional pain. My father would come home drunk and argue with my mother about our economic circumstances. I was too young to understand what was occurring between my parents and I grew up believing that this was the typical family. I remember a specific occasion when my dad came home and he said that he was tired of us. He left my mom with my three siblings and I without money and anywhere to go. This situation terrified me and caused me to focus in school to forget about my personal problems. I could not understand how my father could leave us and not care for us. We then lived in someone's garage because we could not afford a home. Throughout

Seek Support: Death affects many people in a family and community, and talking to other relatives, friends, or a grief counselor is vital for many people to begin the healing process. If you are responsible for funeral arrangements, asking for help to find a local funeral home and take care of necessary arrangements can make a seemingly impossible task much more manageable.

People had questioned myself for not having a funeral and found it hard to comprehend. It was something that David and I had discussed. When my father died some 8 years ago, he decided he didn’t want to have a funeral and to give his ashes to his mates to spread on the golf course where he spent his happiest recent memories. I must admit, it took my sister and me some time to understand and accept it. But that’s what his wishes were and it’s about respecting that, not what you want, but what they would want. RIP Dad.

Have you ever had the courage to go a Funeral? Well I have, not wanting too. A funeral might be the saddest things to go to watching people cry right in front of you and having to see the dead body in front of you. Having to be their might be the worst thing to sit through and that was only beginning of it.