The phone rings. I’m in the living room watching the Flyers getting ready for basketball practice. My dad answers it and a face filled with concern grows. He takes the call into the front room and my mom and I know something is wrong. When he came back in he has a devastating look on his face and he says, “My mom just had a heart attack. She was just taken to the hospital.” That is when the saddest two weeks of my life started.

I just sat there, thinking what happened.

When did it happen?
Was she home alone?
I just sat there in disbelief until my mom came up to me and said, “She’s in a better place. They’re going to take care of her.” I didn’t know what to do stay home and just help my dad or go to practice and pretend everything was fine. I decided to go to practice after my dad talked to me about it. After practice my brother was home and him my sister and my parents were talking without me about it. I didn’t want to talk to anyone I just sat there on my couch with a glass of milk petting my dogs and knowing, I may get to see my mom-mom again.

I didn’t tell many people but my two friends but after that night in school the next day I felt like if I said anything I’d get all upset again. My social studies teacher took me into the hall and said she knew what had happened from my mom and it really helped what she said. After school though my dad said he was going down to Florida with my aunt and when he got down there, there was even more bad news. My dad called my mom everyday and it was tough for me because everyday getting off the bus I was thinking could I walk into my house and see my mom crying and telling me that mom-mom had passed away. It never happened but then something unexpected happened.

My mom-mom had to have a tooth removed and that made the whole problem even worse. She was supposed to have her lungs cleared out but to have her teeth removed she would have to have the other surgery postponed. But after she had her tooth removed it was still bleeding, but they went on with the other surgery. Then, it had been two weeks since we had found out and my mom had told me that mom-mom would probably not make it through the night and I started to cry non-stop and her and I just talked for hours about stuff but it was a Thursday night and I needed to go to bed.

“Ahhhh! Oww!! Mom!” I was having the worst pain in the world. It felt like someone was stabbing a knife into my stomach and then my mom came in and she said, “Jared, its okay! I’ll be right back” she went to Carly, my sister, and said, “I think Jared has appendicitis!” We went to the emergency room and just waited for the doctors to tell me what happened. My mom tells me that while we were waiting she got so mad at me for not going to sleep and how I was so fascinated with the bag of water attached to my bed.

The doctors told me that I didn’t have appendicitis. The next morning about an hour after I woke up my mom told me that mom-mom had passed away last night while I was in the hospital, and she didn’t want to tell me because she knew I would’ve gotten upset. After she told I thought I will never see her, hear her, or what mattered most to her have a nice game of cards with her again.

Those two weeks will be a part of my life for a long time. It brought some good times and some bad times. It’s made me stronger when tragedies happen and taught me that nothing and no one can live forever. Even though she is now gone I’ll always remember her for what she was. She was the best.