The Day You Went Away

It's been four years today since you passed. I may have a good memory, but it is not a date I like to remember, nor is it one that is easy to forget. Sometimes I still think you are a coward for leaving, but I've never been angry about it, just sorry. If it was us who you cared so deeply for, then why? Why did you leave, and after you left why did you leave us to live in fear of your return, only to leave us for good in the end.

I can't imagine what they feel, but I know what I feel. I know that I still remember that sunday. And the saturday and friday too. The shock, the guilt, and finally the sadness. You were gone, out of our lives, but suddenly you were back and we had to remember the good times, in order to go back to that place. I've never told anyone about the guilt I felt, keeping it from them. I guess it wasn't important at the time, I did what I had to do in order to keep going. It's funny how your death has a soundtrack that I listen to from time to time. I listen to 'Heaven Help My Heart' by Tina Arena when I'm feeling guilty. That was the song playing at the time- as the three of us sat in McDonald's, the two of them so blissfully unaware that their father was lying in hospital, on the verge of dying. How could I tell them that? Of course they had a right to know, but they were so young, she barely even remembered you because you left so early in her life. And he was so much like you, even back then.

The sunday was the worst, of course. It was the day you passed. I think it was the suddenness of it all that really hit us. You were out of our lives for years, sure we saw you at the local shops and it was awkward, and hard for mum, but this, we never expected. I don't think anyone ever does. It's one of those tragic things you read about in the paper and hear on the news, but god, you never think it will happen to anyone you know, let alone the man who was once your stepdad.

I didn't go to the hospital to visit you, you were unconscious anyway, not that it's an excuse. But they said you didn't look the same, the accident, it had changed you. And I couldn't bare that. I didn't want to see you looking so beaten. I wanted to remember you as the man who made me love Disney movies, the man who taught me math without using a calculator, and the man who once helped me make that styrofoam boat that won the race. I wouldn't remember you as the coward who was always running away from us, from life. I wouldn't remember that night that changed us all forever, the glass house that came shattering down. And I wouldn't remember the way I selfishly feared for my life that night.

What I will remember is the phone call that sunday afternoon. Mum took it in another room, and my older brother was there with her. I didn't know what had been said, but the sound of my mums helpless cry told me everything. And then we all sat, crying, except for the two young ones. We cried because suddenly and without warning our life had changed so dramatically, so tragically, and now we all had to live with it. With the regret, the sorrow, the memories.

I know I shouldn't, but I regret it. Not going to your funeral. I made so many excuses at the time and they all seemed to fit. I had a test that day, I had nothing to wear, and we had no money to buy funeral clothes, can you imagine that? I was just a burden, so my older brother went with my mum instead, he was stronger, they were closer. I would have just cried, stayed frozen, I couldn't do that to her.

My only reprieve was finding your funeral program a few weeks later. Your photo plastered on the front, a hurtful reminder. I looked at the songs they played at your funeral, because I believe that kind of thing is important. If we are going to remember you, then we need the right soundtrack. I can't remember the order, but I think it went something like - The Day You Went Away - Wendy Matthews at the beginning of the ceremony, Many Rivers To Cross - Toni Childs in the middle, and Bat Out Of Hell - Meatloaf at the end. I still smile at the last one because that is your song, above all others, the other two are fitting for the occasion, but this song defined you. It's how I'd like to remember you, when the bad memories take over the good. I'll remember your cowboy hat, and the long drives in the van that my brother and I were so ashamed of, your music (Meatloaf) blaring the whole trip. I used to get so mad, the music was so loud, you were so full of life, I just wanted it all to be quiet. And now it is quiet, and I can't help but wish for those times when we were all living so loudly.

I often wonder if mum remembers the date, she's bad with things like that, but I'm sure she estimates. My younger brother and sister, I know they don't. Do they even remember him? Sometimes they tell people and I feel sad for them. Sometimes they tell me they miss him and I say I miss him too. My older brother, I wonder if he misses him, if he remembers the day. Something tells me not, he's got his own life now, but I'm sure he remembers the loss. And me? I remember every year, and I try to live the day in sadness, if only to preserve your memory, a life taken far too soon, a life that I will miss until the end.