Sad News From Barbados

Prime Minister David Thompson

Just a few minutes after I woke up this morning a good friend of mine text'd me.  He shared with me the news that the Prime Minister of Barbados, David Thompson, had passed away this morning from pancreatic cancer.  He was 48.  I knew what his diagnosis last month meant since my grandmother just passed away from the same cancer.  But somehow the quickness of his illness irritated the raw wound that I'm still coming to grips with as it pertains to watching that disease take hold of my grandmother... Barbados is in my prayers.

I was also informed that the phenomenal Barbadian woman who introduced my ex-boyfriend and I to each other passed away last week from cancer and that her funeral was today in Barbados.  I had no idea that she was even sick.  She was just 45.

Without being selfish and insensitive, I must say that I don't understand all the deaths surrounding me and my ex-boyfriend's relationship.  His ex-girlfriend passed away while he was dating her (the same year as my mother).  Then I was the first person he dated since her passing.  Then my grandmother passed away on his birthday this year.  And then last week the woman who introduced us passes away. 

Both pieces of news hit me pretty hard.  I guess the buffering naivety that I once had about this life is truly starting to wear off.  Somehow I've become used to hearing about death.  I've simultaneously become less able to handle it.  Hearing about death and hardship is affecting me more emotionally nowadays.   Almost like the wind being taken out of me.  Today I had to blare some soca music just to take myself out of that morbid mood.  Long gone are the days when I didn't understand the short amount of time that we really do have in this realm.  Each new passing leaves a raw mark on my heart that I can't seem to heal. 

May they both rest peacefully.