of heartache and suicide...
I shed countless tears over you as we gathered your photos together. The crew (your mom...my Aunt Caroline and Aunt Shirley) labored day and night in your mother's office to create the graphic masterpiece of an obituary that I had been called upon to work magic over. It was the most mentally horrific thing I have ever had to do... "I should not be here doing this--at THIS point in time," I told myself often. The sweetest, most caring, adventurous, smartest person I knew lost a battle with his own demons. My cousin, only three days older than my twin and I, committed suicide. It took a while to NOT try to understand... as a human being we try to rationalize everything and this was one that would always remain a puzzle. It is what it is... Depression and substance abuse always hung in the gray areas of the background...waaay in the background. African American folks acknowledge it (kinda) but don't really speak on it...He was getting assistance, but I never knew to WH
