SHI BLOGS TOO

Sad News

Ron brought the phone into our bedroom this morning. Even before I put the phone to my ear, I could hear my daughter Julie saying slowly and deliberately "Mom, do you know what Tyler told me this morning?" Tyler is her eighteen year old son. Before I could answer she began desperately exclaiming stuff about one of Tyler's friends, blurting out what sounded like "Shawn's son committed suicide". I knew then that I was hearing her wrong because Shawn is one of Tyler's best friends. I told her to slow down that I wasn't quite awake yet...and to say that again!

Then I got it straight. She said that her friend DAWN'S son Destry had hung himself! Destry was the same age as Tyler and one of his friends.

Dawn is the head nurse in charge of the Intensive Care Unit at the Bremerton Medical Center. She is the one who called my daughter when she saw that my son Patrick was in ICU in November. She is a beautiful person dedicated to saving lives.

I was totally shocked. Neither of us spoke for a few seconds. Then she said that she had spoken with Dawn and that Destry's funeral was Saturday. Dawn asked that Julie be there. She told Julie that she did not know why he would do such a thing...she only knew that he was having differences with his father and that drugs could have been involved. I told Julie to please give her a big hug from me.

My stomach knotted up. It scared me to think that this could be some kind of "trend" with kids his age. I worry about my grandson Tyler. He is sooo quiet and has moved out of his Mom and Dad's house twice over the past six months to go live with his friends. He has differences with his father, also. And, he is experimenting with drugs. Julie has caught him smoking pot. He is a very intelligent young man, but it seems that he does not have a sense of direction in his life yet.

Before I hung up the phone I also told Julie to give Tyler a great big hug. She said she already has and that she will hug him very close again.

Then I got out of bed, sat on the toilet and cried.







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