Journal+6

When I was little, well nevermind, even now, I'm a sensitive person. I take everything to heart if I care about you enough, and am crushed by criticism if you're opinions important enough to me. I've never been a half hearted, uncaring person, I just can't be, nor will I ever be able to. So, one of the most difficult times in my life would be when two of my closest family members past way in the same week. I was young, 10. But I remember it easily. My great grandmother, and probably one of the most intelligent, opinionated, caring, loving, and strongwilled ladies I will ever meet, past away on a Monday. She was so articulate, and insightful, I remember just sitting by her, and listening to her speak. She wasn't one of those crazy old ladies, the ones that people laugh at when they'd speak, or role their eyes because she said something outdated, like she was a quack. She was respected, she was wise. But she was probably also one of the toughest ladies I'll ever experience in my life. She was blunt and outspoken. It was one of the hardest things to be the one of pick up the phone, the hospital on the other end, and have to go get my mother and put her on the phone. My great grandmother had been in the Hospital for about a week, she was 92 when she passed away. Though to most that would seem like a fullfilling life, and if one was in the hospital for that long, it was an inevitable outcome, but as a 10 yea old, I hadn't. I only saw her as a fighter, almost as if she was immortal. She was the strongest person I knew, so being in the hospital meant nothing to me. When she passed, my mother was devastated. That alone was hard to see.

In that same week, my Uncle Neil passed away. 10 years before he passed away, my uncle was put in a situation almost exactly the same as the one he faced weeks before his death. Before I was born, he had 2 heart attacks, and ended up with a paceaker helping him survive on the bottom of his heart, and another contraption on the top. He was told he wouldn't make it. But, being the Everhart, the stubborn- strongwilled-I'll prove you wrong, man that he was, he survived 10 more years. He was an incredible person to be around. He had a love for history and more importantly, kids. He taught at Central for years, and ontop of that became principal. Everyobne loved him, it was eas to fall under his easygoing and witty personality. His funeral and viewing were proof. 100's of people; his family, friends, past students, fellow teachers, classmates, they all showed up. Everyone was crying, celebrating the amazing man he was. His pactience was something I'll always remember. When he was in the hospital, I would go in to visit him with different funny poems to read. At the time I didn't know how much pain he was in, I don't think I could have. As I read them, he'd laugh and encourage me. We'd share his lunch, he'd always give me his orange juice. Two days after my great grandmother, only 10% of his own heart as working anymore,his recovery impossible. My mother told me about how she went into the hospital that night, when they decided nothig could be done, and he looked at her and smiled.

It was one of the hardest imes I had to go through when I was little. Though to most, distance relatives, when lost, are a sad loss. But, I think me being the person I am, it really hit home. I learned so much from these two people. It was deffinatily a difficult time.