The death of someone, whether we knew them well, or not, is a sad time. You don’t have to be their best friend to still miss them.

For me, I still can’t accept certain people have died in my life. It is still too unreal to me. I look at pictures of them, smiling and happy, and I can’t picture them not doing that anymore. Years pass, yet no matter what, I cannot convince myself they are no longer there.

In a sense, that is a good thing. For they are never really gone. They still live on in those pictures passed around, through the memories that cease to fade.

The most amazing, and beautiful thing, that comes from a death, is how people who never knew each other come together.

I remember, at the funeral of my friend Tyler, I was crying on people’s shoulders I had never seen a day in my life. I was hugging and crying with people I had, up until that point, viewed as enemies.

The thing about death is, it opens our eyes. To this world and how quickly it can change. It pulls people closer because tomorrow they can be gone.

I went to my grandpa’s funeral. I barely knew him. I regret that now. There were people I didn’t know there, family that I wasn’t fond of but when it all comes down to it, ignore the feelings toward the people, you’re all human. You all can be sad. You all cry. And no one should cry alone.

It is especially sad when young people die. In the prime of their life, or haven’t even gotten the opportunity to fully live it yet. Children growing up without parents, parents growing older without their children. It can tear people apart.

Death can rip through a family like a knife. The tensions get high, people are stressed trying to plan for this funeral of someone they thought would outlive them. No one wants to admit what they’re feeling, even though deep down they know everyone else is feeling the same way. Arguments happen, and things get said that shouldn’t have been, and then, in the end, it all doesn’t matter anymore. All that matters is coming together to say goodbye. Not goodbye forever, just for now.

What people don’t usually think about is after the funeral. After the eulogies been read, the family that has to go home one less member.

The parents who can’t walk in their child’s room anymore because they don’t want to change how their son or daughter left it.

The spouse who sleeps alone tonight, tightly wrapped in blankets trying to make sense of it all.

The child, who’s parent will miss their graduation, their birthday, holidays.

Yeah, death is an event that will rip your emotions to shreds until you have nothing left.

But, you just have to look forward to the day you see them again. High above the clouds.