Narrative: Body Paragraphs

How do you deal with death?
Yesterday one of my good friends, mentor, and big brother past away in his sleep and I will never know why or how, other then as Doug has told me “the good die young.” When all of us got the news that he has been found dead, we already new something was wrong. We were hoping that we where in trouble and that everything was alright with him. I heard the news but didn’t really hear it tell like ten minutes later, I started to cry and recall all the things that have happened between us. All the help he has been to me would be a waste if I didn’t improve my life or work on the things I need to.

His name is Adam Jay Wilkinson, he has worked at the group home for two years, and the last thing he said to me was. “I don’t work here for the pay because it’s nothing compared to the pay you give me”.

I have seen about fifteen people deal with this and most of them have been similar in the way then act. I cried and talked about all the amazing times we had together, and then I went to sleep and I hope that’s all the crying I well do for now because I think crying is a waste of time, but not really I say that because I don’t like crying. Some people it really hasn’t had much affect on, from what I have seen. One of us is taking a vow of silence and I could hear Adam saying “If you think it will help, go ahead.” Also some are dressed in black for appreciation of the “White Rasta Man.”

The love and compassion he had for the people in his life was truly amazing. I was able to attend his funeral service on the first of this month. It was vary healing for me and I think all who went. Real quick wouldn’t it be a sick joke if someone played on anyone to say he is dead, I would rather have cried and still got him back even to say goodbye forever. He would listen and always try to understand what’s wrong. This one time I was so broken up with how to feel, I barfed because I was crying really hard. He told me take a deep breath and drink some water, but most of all sat there next to me and listened to everything I was saying. The whole time, trying to help me fix the problem or make is better in way he could.

He was the only staff that most of my peers could really relate to. When he was sixteen, he was sent to Provo canyon lock up place for misbehaving. He was in Oregon three o’clock in the morning with two big cops holding night sticks saying “we can do this the hard way or the easy way.” He was then put on a plane and taken to this Provo place. The stay there was a year and he was there for a little over seven months. Because is cleaned up his act and worked super hard and got out and back his life. The reason I say all of this is because he did relate to us the best out of all the staff.

I think of him as one of my brothers, he was given the love that one of your family members would give. I haven’t seen my brother for, well all year wow I need to get out and make up the time with him. I would wake up every Saturday with some smell of food that he was making for us. I will miss him; he made my group home stay easier. He will always have a spot in my heart for helping me to change and make better.


Mark