Friday was the longest day in a very, very long time.
3 a.m: Chris'half-brother Bruce was missing. His eldest son, Shaun, was calling to find out if we had heard from him, because it wasn't like him to not come home or not check-in. He had gone out to East LA from Chino Hills to teach a class at one of his auto body shops. Chris says no, the last time he had talked to him was in the afternoon as he sat in traffic. So, Bruce's family filed a missing person's report in order to get the GPS tracking locators turned on to find him.
We laid in bed. Wondering. Hoping. Wishing that Bruce had pulled over somewhere to catch some sleep. That he wasn't carjacked. Robbed. Anything.
5 a.m.: We get the phone call. Bruce's body has turned up in the El Monte morgue. He had suffered a massive heart attack. He had an ID on him, but no contact numbers to notify the family.
We took off around to Chino to be with the family. It was surreal. We got to the house, Teri (his wife) was surrounded by her sisters, friends and their 10-year-old daughter, Jessica. Shaun was dragged out by his friends to get some food, since they had been driving all night searching for his dad. AJ, their 6-year-old, was still asleep.
The most heart-wrenching thing was when AJ got up and came downstairs. He immediately ran towards Chris and jumped into his arms. Then he looked around and realized everyone was there and said out loud, "Is today a holiday? Can I stay home please, Mom? Is it a no school day?" Teri then asked Chris if he could tell him, and me, Jess and Shaun would go with him for support. I would die happy if I never have to hear or see a 6-year old's face again that hears that his dad isn't coming home. It broke my heart to see his face, hear him cry out, "nooooo, not daddy, why? why?"and to watch him crumple into Chris' arms.
He didn't smoke. He didn't drink. His personality was so big, and his love of life and everything in it was bigger.
Why, God?
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