This is not a very happy or exciting story but it was a big life event so I decided to write about it. I found out on January 20th 2012. I was sitting at home with my sister, and I had just got home from school. My mom came home and she told us that he had died of a heart attack. I was mostly in shock at the time, and I didn’t believe it because he wasn’t very old when he died.
We decided to go to my dad’s house in Johnston where my other sister and my dad were. When we got there, we were all upset. I couldn’t even imagine how my cousins or my aunt felt during this time. I missed that whole week of school. I went up to Sioux City (where they live) for the funeral, and so that my aunt could have people around during that time. I remember getting there and being overwhelmed with feelings. There were so many people there including friends and family. Most I knew and some I didn’t.

My dad told me to keep my cousin (who was 8 at the time) busy, so he wouldn’t think about it. I remember building forts and playing a 100 different games with him. It was exhausting, but I knew a little kid should not have to go through this, and I felt bad for him. The funeral was so strange because I felt like I was going to a funeral, but not for my uncle. It was like watching everyone cry but not know who they were crying about. But I knew - we all knew.

I remember walking past his casket at the funeral with my family. It freaked me out a little because his body was very pale and it smelled like that one stuff they use to preserve the body. I cried and so did everyone else during the actual service, and I was so shocked that all these people came to see him.

Now most things are still the same whenever we see my cousins. Sometimes he will come up in a conversation, but we normally just don’t talk about it that much. The only person who actually brings up his name when we’re together is my aunt. We all feel a little uncomfortable saying his name because we don’t know how our cousins will feel. We usually take the safe route and don’t bring anything up.

My uncle was really funny. He always was supportive, too. That following September, my oldest cousin, Alex, played football for the Iowa Hawkeyes. I saw them like every other weekend. That helped everyone.