As I mentioned in my previous article, this is a 3-part series of articles I’ll be making, starting from December 3rd of 2020 until September 3rd of 2021. In exactly nine months, I lost three very close family members. Two of which were unexpected, and I wish I could have one last conversation with them. I still think about all of them nearly every day, so I thought making an article reflecting on my life with each of them would maybe help me cope with them being gone.
On the 28th of April, I lost my Tio (uncle) Juan. He was one of my grandma’s five younger brothers. He was also the one we were closest with growing up. I always saw him at my grandma’s or aunt’s house. He never missed anything from what I could remember. Probably, because if he did, he wouldn’t hear the end of it from his two older sisters. Over the past few years, I noticed more of his style that I slowly became obsessed with. The big chains and rings from Mexico, the cowboy hats and boots, and the big belts. He is why I have my own chain collection and started slowly getting boots/hats whenever I go to Mexico.
Years ago, he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, so we were all, as anyone can imagine, very upset and always around him for the first year. But then time went by; his chemo was working, though the cancer never entirely went away. The doctors were very optimistic for his future. After 4/5 years of being diagnosed, he passed away suddenly during the day. Just four months after my uncle, who was his nephew, passed away. It felt so unreal because I was just on FaceTime with him and my mom the day before.
I never got to talk about how I was feeling, or even fully cry, because all I thought about was my grandma. Losing her only son and younger brother within four months, I could never imagine the pain she was going through. I miss him every time I come home, and he’s not there. I still wear my chains all the time, and every time I get a new one, I think of him. The man who started my obsession. He knew how much our family loved him. He was one of the few boys we had in our family. I hope he’s in a better place, not feeling any pain that he once felt anymore.