I was completely blindsided the other day when suicide came up in conversation with an acquaintance. I brought it up actually, discussing a student who disclosed this information to me. After I relayed this information the conversation went something like this:
Me: I am not qualified to deal with something like this!!
Her: Yeah... especially after what you went through with your dad.
Wait. What?! I was caught completely off guard. I'm sure it's not her fault that she thought my dad committed suicide. I know about the rumor mill. And I know what people think about people who die from carbon monoxide poisoning. Well I am here to say that carbon monoxide poisoning can be accidental. First of all, my dad would NEVER kill himself. If you knew him, you'd know that. He would view that as giving up, and he NEVER gave up. Second of all, He was looking so forward to retirement and his golden years. Playing with his grandsons, enjoying his wife and family... Justin, Liam and I were going to be moving home four days after he died. He was going to surprise us at the airport. He told everyone that would listen about it, and how excited he was.
Just wanted to defend his honor. God, I miss him.
Ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteUgh! When I had to explain to people at work what happened that is what they assumed as well. I wanted to be mad at them for thinking that but I had to remind myself they didn't know him. just remember that the people who knew him know better than to believe a rumor like that about him. He was and forever will be an amazing husband, dad, grandpa, uncle, friend, etc. I miss him, and you! <3
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, I never thought your Dad committed suicide. I always thought carbon monoxide poisoning was almost always accidental.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you had to revisit the pain in a fresh way. I wish I could be there to punch that person in the face for you.
xox
Gosh Meg. Sorry you had to even have that conversation. I also got that same assumption when I mentioned it to people and I, like Libby, got initial anger about it and downright defensive to be honest. He was a happy man and anyone that spend any inkling of time near him would have known that is an absurd assumption.
ReplyDeleteThanks, everyone. I really appreciate your kind words.
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