On Death and Dying
My first memory of death was being in the 3rd grade and my best friend Gina's father dying. We had had a play date at her house before her and family went on vacation. They were driving to Livingtone I think. We said our goodbyes knowing fully that I'd see my best friend in a week when she returned. A phone call came and Mummy explained that the family had been involved in a terrible car accident on the way back from vacation and Gina's Dad had died. I was sad that I would never see Mr. Giampaolo again and how he liked to tease Gina when I spent the night when she asked him to take the bones out of her fish and he would say, "Look at Mwabi, she doesn't need me to take the bones out of her fish." I remember going to the cemetery to bury him but death still didn't compute. Life went on without one person in it. Then came the early teen years. Details are fuzzy but a car stopped by the house full of teen boys to pick up my brother and my parents said h