Alec+Artis

Artis, Alec

Mrs. Bear

English10A

25 October 2011

Every Ending is a New Beginning

It was a cold April afternoon when I walked through the peach colored front door of my house. No one had to tell me Tammy was gone. Somehow I just knew. The second my feet met the carpet; I could see my mother sitting in the blue rocking chair in the living room talking on the phone. The words that slipped passed my mothers lips “She was a great person.” I knew she was dead. At only eleven years old I had already first handedly witnessed someone be deteriorated by cancer and taken into deaths arms. I remember thinking it wasn’t true. How could someone I love die? I had been told Tammy wouldn’t survive but somehow I believed she would get through it. I left my house to gather my thoughts without a single tear. I wouldn’t let myself cry, and if one drop slipped down my cheek I didn’t want my mom to see. I walked to my friend’s house so I could talk to someone about what had happened. Walking up to my friend’s house, I could feel the tears building up as I walked, I tried to walk faster but that only made the tears pile up quicker. My thoughts had gone wild. I kept flashing back to all the years my mom and I had gone to Tammy’s, spent time with her and all those moments had led up to now. I walked up the steps to my friend’s house. I raised my trembling right hand and knocked on the door. The minute she opened that door the built up tears escaped my eyes like a broken faucet. She looked at me un-phased. She told me she didn’t have time to listen to my sob story and closed the door in my face. I walked home in sorrow. I tried to reassure my self the sun would still rise tomorrow, the world would keep turning and I would be okay. Me and Tammy would go on long walks and talk about life. Just a month ago I had strolled those same familiar streets with her. On our walks, Tammy and I often passed by an old, solemn looking man who sat on his front porch. I had never given a second glance to him or even a simple acknowledgement. One day, as we were passing the man, she asked if I had ever spoken to him I told her no. She then turned to him and said “Good morning sir! It’s a beautiful day isn’t it?” The old lonely man looked thrilled; the biggest smile crossed his face. “You should always be friendly to everyone; you never know when it could be there last day.” Tammy said insightfully. The next week I walked past the creamy white house that had been the old mans the house had huge lushes green bushes on each side of the door. There were boxes and people gathered out front. I asked one of them putting things into boxes what had happened. They told me the old man had past away. Right then I realized life is not permanent. This little memory I would go on to tell all of her friends and family at her funeral. One of the most painful things to watch was once her health began to spin out of control; she started to unintentionally slur her words due to the tumor in her brain. I hated watching her get worse and worse, knowing there was absolutely nothing I could do but be there for her until she passed. It was a cold April afternoon when I realized loss comes in different forms whether its death of a person or death of a certain part of your life. Every ending is a new beginning. Treat every moment as your last because as Tammy once said you truly never know when one will draw their last breath and from this, this is what I believe.