Personal Narrative: My Funeral Home

The day was March 4, 2004 at 2:33 A.M. My sister, mother, and I were staying at my grandmother’s two-story home for the night after she and my father got into another argument. They had begun fighting a lot recently, mainly for the reason that my father had picked up the bottle once again. My sister and I were sharing a room and a bed. For some reason I had woken up. I guess I just knew something was wrong. I opened the bedroom door and was going to head to the bathroom when I was blinded by the living room light coming from downstairs. I could hear my mother wailing as she was managing to say the words “He’s dead” over and over again. I didn’t understand what she meant at first, so I kept on my way to the bathroom then returned to bed. A few …show more content…
was when the viewing started. Friends and family members appeared. Many of the family members from my dad’s side I had never seen before were there as well. I stood at the front of the funeral home and was told to greet the people who came in. I hated being the greeter because everyone kept hugging me and telling me there were sorry or asking if I was okay. Once everyone had entered the funeral home, I took a seat beside my paternal grandparents, who came all the way from Arizona. I watched as everyone walked up to the open casket and then sit back down. I walked up with one of my sister’s friends and that’s when reality struck. The moment I saw the body lying there in the coffin; the paleness of his skin, the frozen expression on his face, the smell of death that came from the coffin. I told myself he was just sleeping and would wake up at any moment and tell me he loved me. My lips quivered and tears flowed from my eyes as I stared at him. My sister’s friend took my hand and led me back to my seat as I started to calm down. When I looked back up at the casket, the tears ran down again. I told her I wanted to go home, that I couldn’t be there anymore. We told my mom that I was going home with my sister. We went back to our house, not my grandmother’s, and the first place I went to was my parent’s bedroom. I lay down on my dad’s side of the bed and cried into his …show more content…
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention collects data about mortality in the U.S., including suicide related deaths. In 2013, there were 41,149 reported suicides in Americans alone. This made suicide the tenth leading cause of death amongst us. Every 12.8 minutes someone died by suicide. However, although there is no record for suicide attempts, hospitals keep a record of those who are admitted for self-harm. In 2013, there were 494,169 people who visited the hospital due to self-harm behavior. I think the best way to help everyone know more about suicide and to help prevent it is to learn the warning signs. When someone talks about killing themselves, having no reason to live, being a burden to others, feeling trapped, or having unbearable pain. There are also behavioral warnings such as, increased use of alcohol or