My 12-year-old son was asked to write a paragraph about an epiphany or life-changing moment for his Language Arts class last month. I came home to find him weeping at the keyboard as he wrote this (including the footnotes):
"I am pretty sure the biggest epiphany in my life was the death of my father(1) . Even though my dad had had lung cancer for a long time and had been in the hospital for about a month–and, a few days earlier, the doctor had told me and my mom that my father was definitely going to die¬–when my Uncle Scott told me my father had passed away, it was probably the most life-changing experience I had ever had (and probably ever will). The moment I first heard my uncle say my dad had passed, it was so hard for me that I burst into tears. When he was alive and well, he was so playful, funny, and friendly, and I loved him so much. The one thing, however, I didn’t like at all was that he smoked(2). He knew I didn’t like it, so he’d wait till I go to sleep, or I was at my mom’s (they had been divorced for 3 years), and then he would smoke. I would try to stop him by finding the cigarettes and destroying them, but he would just buy more. I knew his love for me and my mom was the greatest of mental powers inside him, but the nicotine addiction was close behind in 2nd place and gaining. Now, all I have are pictures and memories of my dad, and I wish and wish that I had more time to spend with him.
1-My father died on October 30, 2003, when I was 8.
2-He told me he didn’t want to smoke either. The addiction was just too powerful."
No comments:
Post a Comment