When Someone You Love Dies.

On coping with loss.

Today I got a call from my cousin. Her brother (also my cousin) died in his sleep. He was young in his late twenties. He has a son who is under two years old.

When I read the text I immediately burst into tears.

I wasn’t particularly close with him but we grew up together.

We cousins only had each other as kids.

If our families were too much we knew we could turn to each other for support.

If life got overwhelming we would give each other encouragement.

We cheered each other on in our victories. We laughed together. Busted each other’s chops. Danced to bachata and made delicious food together.

In a way we were our own little tribe. And I imagined we would all grow old together.

But the universe had a different plan.

The last time I saw this cousin was two years ago at Thanksgiving.

He was suffering so much mentally. An ex-marine trying to reintegrate back into society.

We all knew something had changed when he got out and came back. We just didn’t know what.