It felt like somebody was standing on top of me. I couldn’t breathe. I stared at the blood stain in the snow. I started crying by my mom’s side.  This would go down as one of the worst days of my life….

On March 3, 2011, I went to 7th grade as usual. It was the last hour of the day, and I walked out from school with a happy face. I had to ride the bus to the Jr High. I got off the bus to meet my mom as she was an Assistant, supervising students as they scramble to the buses. When we were in the car, I looked at my mom while she was driving on the road to go to her office. I saw the sadness in her eyes, and she told me what happened. Then the good day was gone.

       I asked, “Mom what happened?”  

       She said, “Your uncle Bucky died at 2 in the morning.”

     Then we went to my mom’s office at First Student. After my mom got everything done, we left for home. We got home; it was silent, till she broke the news.

       My mom said, “Sit in the living room for a minute.”

      I said, “Ok mom.”

After the talk, I went to my room and cried because he was my best friend. My mom told me that he died while driving a snowmobile; that he crashed with his right ski hitting the tree.

He died by Hilltop Bar. My dad drove us to where he died. I got out of the car. I felt cold and sadness at the same time.  While I was walking with my mom to the tree, I thought about how my uncle called me his Reggie.

                I said, “Mom, I am his Reggie.”

               She said, “Yes, you are his Reggie for life.”

This day I felt part of me died with him. I saw where he crashed, spots of blood in the snow, his tracks, and the tree. It made me sick. My mom saw a carved heart on the tree. I saw it too. People put flowers around the tree. We walked back to Hilltop and had pizza there for lunch, but it was hard to be normal.


I had to skip two days of school for the wake and the funeral. I went to both places. At the wake my uncle Bucky’s friend’s wife, told me to move so other people could see him. After she said that I felt very mad. I felt like she had no business telling me this. I was standing in front of the coffin of my favorite uncle.  I wanted to take as much time as I could.  I couldn’t stop thinking that this would be the last time I see him.  Some people can touch a dead body, but I can’t do it.  At the funeral he looked so peaceful and well in the coffin.  I felt happy that he was going to a good place but I was also sad that I will never be able to talk to him again.   
       
Everyone loses people that they care about and love.  He was my friend that I could talk to if I needed something. I was very close with him, and he will always be remembered as my Uncle Bucky and a part of me will always remain his “little Reggie.”