His Influence

“Jordan, we got a phone call today…they found a body.” I couldn’t help but cry. My mom said they couldn’t tell if it was him or not. How could it not be him? It’s his house.
Then I was told the body was too decomposed to be recognizable. I went to bed wondering…Is it my Uncle? Who else could it be? How could this have happened? The next morning we found out, it was my uncle. I had this overall feeling of sickness and regret.
At the funeral, there was a slide show of pictures of him. They ended the slide show on my uncle’s smile. Those pictures…that smile…will never leave me.
My uncle was an alcoholic for 10 years. He died at the age of 53. I never truly got to know who he was. His addiction kept him withdrawn and my entire family soon became distant.

But somehow his death brought us closer together. Our family has spent more time together since my uncle’s passing–smiling, laughing…having fun. This experience has made me realize how important friends and family truly are.
Being upset over his death wouldn’t bring him back. Instead of being consumed by sadness I made a decision…a decision that would become my future. I began looking at the positives instead of the negatives. Rather than continuing to stay distant from my family, my cousin and I chose to start talking more, thus strengthening our relationship. His death made me a stronger person. I came to understand the risk of alcohol. Therefore, I elected to not give in to peer- pressure and stay away from alcohol.