420 Summit

Winter blues

My son buried his friend today.

Justin, an apparently healthy thirteen year-old, died of a heart attack late last week. His service was today. Because Nicholas wasn’t in school last Thursday and Friday, he missed out on the collective grieving process and only found out when a mutual friend called to discuss transportation to the funeral. A funeral we didn’t know was going on.

There are better ways to break the news to a kid. While not ‘best’ friends, these guys spent a few years together and Justin, along with his twin brother, paved the way for my country mouse in the heart o’ the ‘hood. Nicholas admired his good cheer, quiet authority and common sense.

Tonight, when he finally settled down, Nicholas announced that he wanted to pay his respects by copying what he liked most in his friend. Rather than dwelling on his sense of loss he said he wanted to make something in himself better.

I thought that was pretty cool.