How do I deal with grief?
When I was seven years old, my great-grandfather died. When I was twelve, my grandfather passed away, and when I was fourteen, my dog—who had been with me since I was born—died. I wasn’t very sad at the time, but now the memories and guilt are coming back. I keep remembering all the times I didn’t want to visit them or play with my dog. I remember the last time I saw them, and I can describe their funerals in detail.
I don’t want to go into detail about the things I feel guilty about. Two specific memories keep coming back to me and I can’t stop thinking about them.
One is the time my great-grandfather went into a nursing home. He used to live two hours away in a remote town, so we didn’t visit often. After his wife died, my grandmother moved him into a home in our city so she could visit him every day. He had diabetes, which eventually led to a severe infection in his legs, and he had to have both of them amputated. In his later stages, he went into a vegetative state, but before that I remember him being cheerful.
He was only five minutes from my home. I visited him twice in the year and a half he was there. In my defence, I was six years old and spending time in a building full of elderly people felt awful to me. But now, looking back, I wish I had gone more often.
Some time ago, my mother mentioned that he used to ask where my sister and I were. He was there alone a lot of the time, and I can’t stop thinking that I was selfish for not spending more time with him. I still remember what his room looked like. The only time he was really responsive was on his birthday, and the next time I visited, it was clear he was going to die.
The other thing I remember is about my grandpa. He had lung cancer and a brain tumour, but he eventually died of sepsis while in a medically induced coma. The last time I saw him was on New Year’s Eve 2022. I was bored and wanted to leave. I still remember the exact place where he stood when we said goodbye and said, “see you soon.” He went into a coma a few days later.
I didn’t even call him before that. Nobody in my family told me how serious things were. As far as I knew, he had cancer, but he was getting better. I didn’t know that he had come home from the hospital for New Year’s dinner not because he was improving, but because he knew it would be the last time he saw us.
When I was a child, I made up a ghost that could grant any wish, but could only be summoned once a month. I believed in bad luck, and thought something terrible would happen if I used it more than once. I kept believing in that idea for years.
On the night of February 5th, 2023, at around 1:30 a.m., I “called” the ghost and wished for good grades. I then remembered that I should also ask for my grandpa to get better so I could see him again. He died two hours later.
I think I’ve said enough about my past now. The grief has gotten worse lately. Even though I know how much they all loved me, I keep telling myself that they are disappointed in me and that they sacrificed so much for me to have a good life just so I could not even get an A on a test.
It sounds stupid, but I’ve always been an A student, and this year I won’t be because the stress was too much to handle. Being smart is all I have. I’m not pretty, or skinny, or funny—I’m smart. So what am I if not that?
All these emotions are becoming too much, and I need a way to get through this. I’m sixteen years old now.