Tales From Under A Middle-Aged Colored Woman

Unexpected Death

I haven't felt like reading or writing anything in the last month.  A very good friend's nephew died and it upset me more than I expected.  I didn't really know him, but I had seen him here and there since he was a child.  The nephew was thirty-one years old and a heavy drinker.  One night his father got a phone call from a bartender who told him that his son was drunk and needed a ride home.  The father went to the bar and loaded his son in the car, but by the time they arrived home the son had passed out.  The father left the son in the car to sleep it off.  When he came out to check the son in the morning, his son was dead.  The father, my friend's brother, was in shock.  He called his parents who live nearby and 911.  When his parents arrived all they could do is look at their grandson's body and wait for the ambulance.  His whole family is heartbroken and watching them suffer is painful.  I cannot even imagine what his mother is going through.   I think I am shocked at how quickly death can happen even though I have seen it before it never loses it power to strike me dumb and leave me in some kind of daze or stupor.  At this point the cause of death for the son has not been officially established.  He may have choked on his own vomit or there may have been something other than alcohol in his body.  The bartender said that he had no more to drink than usual and the autopsy performed was inconclusive.  The medical examiner wants to wait for the results of a toxicity test to  give a final determination.  Unfortunately, the result will not be available for another two weeks and so the family would have had to wait six weeks for a cause of death.  The son's death reminded me not to take the people I love for granted.  That boy.  O.k. man.  I bet he never thought he could affect so many people.  I will be blogging again this week.

Judaye