Tatyana the air from barbecue grills, team
Tatyana ManningMr. BeasleyENGL 1010-40E30 January 2018Bad MemoryLast year in February I lost my cousin-in-law Ibn and my great grandfather just two days apart. This tragedy left me in denial for days. Had me asking myself how is that possible? This left me devastated. These was two out of four men that was there for me when times got rough or when I needed a brother or father figure; sometimes a role model.
Ibn always made sure I didn’t want for anything. He was a happy care free person who didn’t bother anyone. Him and my grandfather bond was like no other. My grandfather was in the hospital with third degree burn. Tho he was in pain, he still was a happy individual. He had a wife and all his kids were grown; so of course he was happy with life. My grandfather was my pride and joy. His smile just brightens up my day.
I was blind to the truth. One tragedy is after another. These two together taught me how to live life to the fullest.
February 7th 2017, it was super bowl day. Outside there were cars lined up down the street. It was so packed to the point neighbors let some park in there drive ways.
Smoke fading in the air from barbecue grills, team jerseys getting out of cars and hand shakes sounding off. Oh how great it is to see your family happy and worry less. It felt good to see the family come together again without making them. Grandma was the anchor of the family. We all called her GG as in gangster granny. Gg held the family together as a whole.
Every holiday event was held at Gg’s. Except this one particular event and that was surprising. Walking in the house to loud, cheerful screams, smiles and hugs. Me, my mom, and cousin Kim were standing in the kitchen fixing food and joking around of course.
Kim and my mom were like peanut butter and jelly. Whenever you see one of them you saw both of them. Kim started calling my cousin Ibn. She got no answer. Fifteen minutes go by. Kim calls Ibn again, this time she’s worried and fearious. Ibn answer “Hello?” Kim replied yelling in her serious voice “where are you?, you suppose to been here” Ibn replied, “I’m on my way.” The called ended.
My mom screamed to my younger siblings “Come eat!”. Of course they didn’t come the first time because their eyes were glued to the video game. Awh! Yelled my dad cause his team fumbled the ball. My uncle Joe threw his fist happily high in the air because his team kicked a good field goal. A hour later Kim gets a phone call from her friend girl.
“Girl I see lo car and a lot of police cars right here on ridgeway I think something done happened.” Her friend explained. “You lying” Kim said shaking her head with denial. Kim grabbed her keys in the left hand and my moms hand in the right hand. They flew towards the door and down the drive way they went.
You could hear the sound of their sandles smack against the concrete as they rushed worrily. While driving to the scene. Kim has tears of worry coming down to her jaws. Sweaty hands on the steering wheel and hard break pounding as if she almost ran the red light. Mom on the left of her praying trying not to think of the worst. From seeing blue and white lights flashing to the sound of the ambulance sirens zooming past.
Kim Arriving to the scene to see a crowd of people, all the nosey neighbors, the news truck and the blue crush crime scene van. This was not what my mom and Kim expected. You could hear some crying and others conversation saying somebody was sitting in their car with it just running for hours, it was two people in the car.
Kim, interrupting their conversation “WHAT KIND OF CAR IS IT ?” They looked at her crazy as if they didn’t know her and turn their backs to her. “Kim!” Her friend girl screamed. They rushed over to the yellow caution tape standing on the tip of there toes almost breaking their necks to see what’s going. Kim said forget it and went for it. Under the tape she went running towards the car only to see half of Ibn hanging out the car. Kim fell to her knees with sorrow. The officer met Kim with his arms open grabbing her telling her everything is gonna be ok.
His voice went in one ear and out the other. Kim cutting the officer off with static in her voice “That’s my husband sir I need to know what’s going on and I need to know now!” Kim saw through her blurry,teary eyes the emergency crew pulled out a black bag long enough for a body. For a couple of days the I was blind to the truth. My heart felt like a hole had formed.
I don’t think anyone really thinks about tragedy until they are actually faced with shocking news. Our hearts were filled with so much pain. Life had just hit my mane. This taught me that life is made up of special moments which make it worth living. There are many cherished, moments that are missed due to the stress and fast pace living. We must slow down and remember how precious it is to be alive and to love.
– unknown. One of the most Important things I’ve learned was to cherish the moments you have with your loved ones. You never know when it’s your time nor someone that you truly care about.
