A sad Christmas for the entire family.

Hello, everyone.

Losing a loved one to the cold hands of death comes with one of the worst feelings. When you remember that you will never get to see their face again or hear their voice ever again, it hurts even more. Sometimes we don't know how much memory we have of a person until they are no more, and that is when the memories will keep playing in your head and forcing tears down your chin. Sometimes we wish we knew the place and time death would strike just so we could avoid such places and never give death the chance.

_{designed in canva.}

It turns out that death is inevitable and comes unannounced, sometimes even in moments where we least expect it, and whenever it strikes, it leaves us in pain as well as creating a vacuum that can never be filled. Everyone has a role to play, and when death takes a person away, no one gets to play their role perfectly. The death of a loved one can change a person completely; some people go silent after losing a loved one. It can change how we see things, change our perspective about a lot of things, and open our eyes to things we were so blind to.

On December 25, 2023, very early in the morning, we received a call that my uncle had been rushed to the hospital the day before Christmas. He had passed out in the house just like that, but after getting medical attention that night, he woke up and was doing very well. He was energetic and even had a conversation with his wife, and he even teased her and apologized for spoiling her Christmas plans. She made breakfast for him, he ate, and then she helped clean him up.

_{The burial program.}

After cleaning him, he told her he wanted to sleep, and that was it. That was how he slept and never woke up. It is painful that we have plans to attend his traditional retirement ceremony in December this year. In my hometown, when you get to a certain age alongside people of your age grade, you are all celebrated and relieved of paying taxes in the community. This celebration is known as Igba uche (traditional retirement); that was how we were told hours later that someone we were told was doing okay and energetic just a few hours ago had passed on.

The whole Christmas celebration got soured, and all the plans we had for Christmas changed. Instead of a joyous celebration, everyone was sad and trying to wrap their heads around what just happened. My dad had to even travel that very day; last year, Christmas was one of the most unorganized celebrations we have had in years. Nobody could point out exactly how they feel or how they want the Christmas celebration to go. Everyone started wishing the Christmas day we all anticipated never came that way. We wish we could have avoided his death, but in all, we give God all the glory.

_{wife's tribute.}

His death spoilt Christmas celebration for us but we accepted that it was never his intention to leave us on such a special day and disrupting the celebration. We were forced to accept it in good fate, also taking attending his traditional retirement ceremony off our bucket list hurts.

Thanks for reading my post.

_{This is my entry for day 9 of the InLeo monthly prompt. You can join by clicking the above link.}