It was a misty morning; that’s when my family and I started to head out the door and on our way to Corner Stone church, in downtown Fresno. Just two nights before I was staying the night with my aunt Rosa and uncle Daniel, I remember hearing them get into a huge fight, but I didn’t get up to see what was happening. I didn’t think it was a huge deal. A few hours had passed and my aunt had gotten a phone call, and it was the cops. I didn’t know what they told her but I knew it was bad. My aunt Rosa then called my mom to tell her the news.

When my mom arrived they told me to stay in the bedroom, but I overheard their conversation. The words I heard were “Daniel died”. I ran to my aunt Rosa and my mom and starting crying. We were all devastated. I remember my mother asking how Daniel died, ugh that was the worst news I have ever heard. Rosa had explained that when they were fighting, Daniel was furious, and he had gone through the whole alcohol cabinet. She said that the cops had told her Daniel was driving over the speed limit without his seatbelt on, and he had hit a builder and flew through the window. As he flew through the window, he scraped up the side of his face, but since he was so drunk all he did was lay there. They said he had no chance. There was a car coming and I guess the driver didn’t see Daniel, so without the driver knowing, they ran over his face and left. I remember crying, shouting out, “I don’t want to live without my uncle, I want to die, I want to be dead with him”.

As we arrived at the church, it seemed to be packed already, so we went inside. The church was huge; there were lots of chairs, beautiful bright pink yellowish lights coming from the ceiling and all sides of the walls, and food everywhere. I knew mostly everyone in the room; it was my family, Daniel’s family and friends so I wasn’t shy to be there. The room was really packed, everyone was talking to everyone and I happened to notice that everyone was wearing black and green, which were my uncle Daniels favorite colors. I as well had on a short black skirt with black shoes and a big green bow in my hair. About three years ago, I remember my uncle and I had stop at the Disney store; we looked around and he let me get whatever I wanted. I remember picking out a dress with some matching shoes and a crown to top it off. It was funny though, my uncle custom made everything green and black.

When everyone started to relax and take their seats, the minister headed to the stage. I remember him asking everyone to stand and to take off their hats. A few seconds later they started to play “I’ll be missing you”, my uncle’s favorite song; then my brother Joseph, my cousin Juan, and two of Daniel’s friends came carrying out my uncle Daniel. They placed him on stage next to a huge photo of himself, from my uncle and aunt’s wedding. Their wedding, what a beautiful day, everything they could wish for they got. I still could remember how it felt like I was being stabbed in the stomach. All I did was cry, I didn’t want to see my uncle like that. As they placed him on the stage, I looked over at my aunt Rosa, who was in tears and you could tell she was terrified by seeing her husband like that. I think she was feeling empty inside, it was a side I’ve never seen of her before. 

The minster asked us to be seated and then he started talking, I don’t remember word by word since I was only ten at the time, but the minster had said some beautiful things about my uncle. After he finished his speech, he called my aunt Rosa to the stage; she had pulled out the letter I wrote for her about my uncle. She read the first sentences: “Uncle Daniel you were a wonderful husband to my aunt Rosa, a great father to my cousin Jordan, and a fantastic uncle to me. We love you”. Tears fell from my aunt’s face, so she called me to the stage. She asked me to continue the letter for her so I did, but since there was a lot of people in the room I was pretty nervous. After I got the guts to do it, I was also pretty sad myself. I remember writing a lot of amazing things about what my uncle and I did together. When I was finally done reading the letter, I went back to my seat.
Moments later, the minister started to talk again, I don’t remember much but everyone got into a line. I knew where this was heading. It was finally my turn to approach my uncle’s casket. I remember hugging it and repeating, “I love you uncle, I love you”. My legs were shaking out of control, I just wanted to see his face one more time but they wouldn’t let me. My uncle Daniel’s funeral was a closed casket, meaning nobody was allowed to look at him because there was too much damaged. It was now getting close to the time to say goodbye soon. We were all heading out the door on our way to the cemetery to bury my uncle.

After a twenty minute drive, we arrived at the cemetery. Everybody got out of their cars and headed our way, we were under a big tent. I remember seeing Daniel’s friends, my cousin and my brother going to the limo, and when I looked back I saw them carrying my uncle. As they were placing Daniel on the ground, my aunt Rosa played “I’ll be missing you” again. I started to cry, well everyone started to cry because nobody wants somebody they love to pass away. I remember one time having a talk with my uncle, it was the time my brother Joseph was bullying me. My brother at the time was yanking my hair and calling me names, so I ran to my uncle. I would always run to my uncle with all my problems, he always knew what I was going through, it just made me happy he was always there when I needed him the most. My uncle Daniel then told me, “pretty girls don’t cry, so don’t cry”, which made me smile so I hugged him and gave him a kiss. On the day of his funeral I remembered what he had told me and I stopped crying and I smiled a little bit. A few moments later everybody was doing their little speeches, they made people smile and happy. They were happy thoughts about Daniel. The hard part was coming; everyone was saying their goodbyes, we all threw roses on his casket. I remember helping throw the dirt and burying him, I’m glad I got to be part of that but it was really sad.

After the funeral, my aunt was really depressed, so we let her stayed with us for a while. All Rosa did was lay in bed, mope around and didn’t eat, but it wasn’t really heathy and we were scared for her. We told my aunt Rosa if she doesn’t start eating soon we’d take her to the doctor, she didn’t want to go.  A week had passed and she was eating again, so we thought we could trust her alone at home, so my mother and I went to the store. When we got back we noticed all Rosa foods was thrown up in the trash, so we rushed upstairs. That’s when we found her in the bathroom. Rosa was cutting herself, there was blood everywhere. My mom and I were so worried for her we took her to the hospital right away, and when we got there the doctor checked her out. He said she had bad depression so he gave her medication. We tried our best to help her out, since Rosa needed to get better in order to take care of Jordan, her one-month old son.

Finally, after three months had gone by, my aunt Rosa was doing a lot better, and she was even taking care of Jordan. Her depression had finally gone away, and just in time too. A couple of days had gone by since we took her to see the doctor he said she was doing great! Rosa was so excited, today was the day we headed out back to the cemetery, it was my uncle Daniel’s birthday. I remember that day like it was yesterday; we had bought some flowers, they were beautiful. Yellow daisy and red roses, we placed them on his grave. Then we went through the old family pictures, we also ate. After a while we took some pictures with my uncle Daniels grave, and we sang happy birthday. After we were done we packed up and headed out, it was a great day.