This story is written by Helen Hu. I just post the story up for her.
Helen Hu
September 4, 2002
The Saddest Moment of My Life
I have experienced a lot of difficult things in my life, but this summer I went through something I would never want to experience again. My great grandmother passed away. It was a hard time for us because we lost a family member. Everyone was so sad that she died, but on the other side, we felt so happy for her because she didn�t have to suffer anymore. Except it was one of the hardest and saddest moments of my life, and I hope I don�t have to experience this feeling of loss again.
My great grandmother was 102 years old. You know, not that many people can live to that age. It is very hard and takes a special person to live that long. She was a very pleasant, delightful, and caring old woman. Every time I went over to my cousin�s house (where she live) she always ask my mom, my brothers, and me if we eaten yet. On Chinese New Year, she always gave us money, and I really appreciated all she did for us. I didn�t expect her to give us money at all, because I want her to save up the money for herself, but instead she give the money to all of my cousins and me. My entire family, including my aunts, uncles, and grandma, cared a lot about her. We loved her and we didn�t want to see anything bad happen to her. In the middle of June I heard the news that she went into the hospital, and I was shocked. I was thinking �Why is she in the hospital? What happened? Is she going to be alright?� I was all over the place with questions. Afterward, my cousin told me that she went into a nursing home, so I felt better, because I thought that meant she was improving, not having to be in the hospital anymore. Then my mom took us to visit her, and my brother, my mom, and I broke out crying. My little brother was scared. We were crying when we saw her there because she didn�t look good. Her eyes were closed and she was so weak that she couldn�t even move. She didn�t even have the energy to talk. All she could do was listen to what we were saying, but we had to speak louder because she couldn�t hear us if we talked regularly. I was so scared that she would die and leave us.
After the visit, my mom told us that she hadn�t eaten for three months now. My brother and I were so shocked and he asked, �Why doesn�t she want to eat?� My mom kept telling us that when someone is 102 years old, they begin to shrink and the throat beings to shrink too. She said it hurts when she swallowed, so she decided not to eat. I went visit her once after a day or two, because my mom said I had a lot of homework and had to say home for the 1st couple of days. My mom said that she would still know that I cared about her even if I didn�t visit everyday. Finally on June 30th, I was home setting up the room for my three cousin to sleepover when all of a sudden my uncle called up and said, �Did you know that your great grandmother just passed away?� When I heard that I was so depressed and shocked, and so were my cousins. My little brother was young, so he didn�t care as much. We didn�t know what to do, so we all just sat there thinking it, but none of us cry. We were just sad. Then the next day my mom and her brothers and sister went out to get ready for the funeral.
At the funeral if was so sad. When I saw my grandma, crying so hard, I wanted to cry myself, but I had to be strong. I had to take care of my cousin while their mom and dad helped with the funeral and I didn�t want them to see my cry. Every time we got up to see her body, we all just couldn�t help it anymore, and we cried out. She was so important to us that we didn�t want her to leave us. We stayed at the funeral for 6 to 9 o�clock that night. People just cried and cried. After the funeral, we went home, tired and sad. The next day we had to put her inside the coffin and put her in the ground in the graveyard. But before we went to the graveyard, we had to go back to the funeral home to see her for the last time. My grandma cried all the way from the funeral home to the graveyard, and she was still crying once we got there. Seeing her cry like that makes me feel so bad for her. I just wanted to cry out myself, but it felt I had to stay strong. Finally, she was in the graveyard to stay. We all still miss her and it doesn�t feel right without her here with us. She has been with me almost my entire life and not seeing her seems like something inside of me is missing.
This was one of the worst things that ever happened to me during my summer. We all feel happy she is free, but sad for her being gone. We feel so happy that she doesn�t have to suffer anymore and seeing her suffer before she passed away was so hard for us to deal with. We told her to go see the doctor, but she wouldn�t. She said that she was old and didn�t need to waste money of herself. We felt so sad when we heard the news because we had lost one of our family members, and losing a family member is so hard to deal with. Back in 1998 I lost my grandfather and I thought I would never have to experience another death in my family, but then this happened. During my life so far, I have lost two family members and both I was very close to. Losing your loved ones is very hard. I just hope I won�t experience this again for a long, long time. We miss her and will never forget her. She will always be in our hearts.