Our Summer : My Truth

{110} 2017

That year the sun seemed angry. After sweeping out the house and watching the lizards on the veranda, my skin was burnt. My yellow skin was now red, patchy and irritated; a beach day would be perfect. The house felt full. It wasn't the multitude of people for I was always accustomed to the bustling environment. It was the feeling of pure joy and excitement. We hadn't been home in over four years and our return was more than overdue. 

My grandpa, the fish of the family was born here. Swimming and working was all he knew. In the kitchen, I prepared our sandwiches as he looked over the pictures hanging on the wall. Family portraits lined our living room wall and one look at them would create a chill in the air. We had come to say good bye yet here we were planning to relax. Here we were standing around, smiling and reminiscing about what was and what could have been. 

He was pale, lying and waiting for our sweet words to guide him over. There weren't many words full of honey that could be said. Many hated him. Many hated what he stood for. He was the letdown of the family, someone undeserving of love. But my mother, I guess an embodiment of love and hospitality, loved him. She loved him with her whole heart. She saw him beyond the bottles of rum. She loved him unconditionally. She loved him with more than life itself.

The gash on her heart hasn't healed. It hasn't even scabbed over. It is an open wound, bleeding out. Every now and then, I'll catch her gasping, struggling to breath, wrestling with his death. The thought of failing him hurts more than knowing he's dead. The conditions of his life, intolerable, the joke of the town. No one cared for him but her. It wasn't enough. Her love wasn't enough. Love is never enough. 

Pushing our sad thoughts to back of our hearts, I began packing our beach bags. We were ready! Being around family and having fun, teasing and laughing; everyday should be like this. That day at the beach in the country my family calls home was a day of great importance. That year 2017, was on the greatest years of my life. Looking back the joy that came after the heartbreak was worth it. Those precious moments of eating tuna sandwiches wrapped in foil with my toes playing in the sand will never be forgotten. Home truly is where the heart is.

***

Never turn your back on injustice. 

~ Have you ever ate a tuna sandwich?

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Sending you the strength to stand up, speak up and fight back,

D.O.