Gunnar Thorngren
Eng 121-073
Gaines/Hernbloom
11, September 2013

Deathly Times

In the summer of my last year in high school my uncle John was diagnosed with lung disease. Our family was really surprised because John seemed healthier than we have seen him in a while. We all knew what would happen in the end, but I feel we just ignored what we knew to enjoy the time we still had with him as a family. My uncle was the smartest person I knew! He worked for Ball Aerospace and helped develop satellites that would go into space. I can remember going over to his farm for a party when I was little. It was for John, he just received an award for air and space for the work he did on the Hubble telescope! After that day and growing up next to my uncle I could defiantly tell that he was ill. My uncle was officially diagnosed with lung dieses in the fall of 2000. John looked older now. His hair was thinning out and his skin has become cold and soft by this point. He used to be the life of the party! But now during the parties he’d be on his recliner watching the history channel with his thick glasses. John loved history more than anything in the whole world. There would be hundreds of people at his house for a party, and he would be in his den watching Television. That's why I loved him so much he taught me so much and always gave me the best advice, “remember Gunnar. Its not about how long you lived. its about how you lived.“ And to this day his voice is burned into my head. It was September third and I was at home in the basement when my mom yells, ”Gunnar! Can you please come upstairs?” So I took off my Xbox Microphone and I hustled upstairs. I knew there was something wrong when I went upstairs because of my mother's face. She started to tell me,” Gunnar your uncle is sick.” I then replied, “ which uncle? What happened? Is everything okay?” My mom began to tell me that it was my uncle John, his lungs aren't doing very well and we need to go out to the hospital this afternoon to see him. I told her I would and ran back downstairs to get dressed. When I came back upstairs my mom was in the car waiting. I jumped in the car and sped to the hospital. Pulling up to the hospital was when John being sick really hit me. The sky was grey and it looked like it was about to rain. As I walked into the brand-new hospital, I could smell the staleness and death in the air. The walls were decorated with pictures of different oceans around the world. It made me think, what did oceans have to do with health?. Ding! The elevator opened my mother and I walked in. The annoying songs play as we go up to the third floor. We get out of the elevator and there is a nurse waiting and she asks, “Whats your family's last name?” Before my mom could reply I said, “ Thorngren!” She proceeded to tell us that John's room was 315 C and it was right down the hall. It took a second to find the room but we finally found his room. As I was walking into the room the faces of my family were red and emotionless. I looked at John in the hospital bed and he didn't look good at all. I asked,” How are you doing John?” He raised his head and in a sarcastic voice,” oh just dandy.” I seen my mom go on the hall with my aunt Cindy and come back like she just saw a ghost. My mom comes up to me and whispers come out to the hallway, “I have to tell you something.” As my mom explained to me how they were going to put John into a coma and take him off oxygen my heart dropped. I couldn’t explain how I felt. I went up to my uncle and told him, “Stay strong John, and that I loved him.” He replied, with a deadly voice, “I love you to Gunnar. “ As I walked into the hallway searching my mind with things to say, thinking I hadn’t said enough to him. I was speechless, and I told my mom I wanted to leave. I say goodbye my family one last time and left the room.

As I was walking out of the hospital my mind was spinning with death. I couldn’t stop thinking about how it wasn't