Al-kaabi 1

Fajer Al-kaabi

Professor Bryant Scott

ASCC 289

12 August 2022

A Conversation That Brought Me Back To Life

It all started that day when my father told me that my grandfather had passed away. I was

shocked; I never expected one day to hear about the death of someone who I love and lose him

forever. I wasn't ready for that; I wanted someone to wake me up from this nightmare. For a

second, I was paralyzed; I began to feel scorching hot, my heartbeat began to slow down, and my

warm tears started to fall involuntary. I tried to stop them by avoiding eye contact with my father

and looking upward and downward, but I couldn't. I stood up and tried to walk far away from my

father so he doesn't see me cry for the first time. It was hard for me to walk to my room as if I

was walking in quicksand. I don't know how long it took to arrive at my room. As soon as I

arrived, I threw myself on the bed and started to cry silently.

The next day I woke up with bloodshot and puffy eyes. I dressed in black and went to my

grandparent's house for the funeral. On my way to my grandparent's house, I was thinking about

what I was supposed to do. I don't know what I should do or say; it's the first time for me to

attend a relative's funeral, someone I know close. When I arrived at the funeral house, the

atmosphere was gloomy, seeing red eyes and noses. Hearing women's wailing and their

condolences to the family of the deceased. I went to my grandmother to say: "May God reward

you, may God have mercy on him and forgive him and dwells in his spacious heaven." After
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that, my grandmother hugged me tightly and started to cry, and I cried with her. My mother took

my sister and me to my grandfather's room where we should see him for the last time and say

goodbye before burying him. I entered the room and saw a stretcher where my grandfather lay; I

went toward him and opened the cloth from his face to kiss him on his forehead. He was cold,

his face was pale, and gauze was stuffed in his nose and ears. I felt that I couldn't bear to see him

anymore and I was going to cry, so I kissed him and immediately went to the room to cry alone.

I took a week off from school as well as my siblings so we could attend the funeral. On

the first day of the funeral, I ate my breakfast and went to my grandfather's house, where the

funeral was set up. I went first to see my grandmother, as always, to see if she was okay and how

she was doing. Afterward, I sat with my aunties and their relatives who attended the funeral.

Then my mother told me to return home; the end of term one exams was close, and I needed to

study hard for my last year of high school. I told her I wanted to stay for the funeral, but she

refused and said no, so I was forced to return home early and study with my twins. I returned

home and didn't have the potential and ability to study anything, my twins and I shared the same

feelings. The following two days went the same way, as I was forced to return home early from

the funeral to study. Clearly my parents were worried about us the three triplets and our studies,

but meanwhile they remained silent for most of the time since they were very busy with the

funeral and did not want to put more pressure on us.

After a week, everyone returned to their normal everyday routine except my

grandmother, who was still in pain. Every day, she wakes up and remembers her husband, who

left our world and went to a better place. It's weird; when someone loses who they love they

think their pain will not subside and they won’t be able to live anymore. whereas, the pain

reduces overtime and it just becomes a memory. After a week of absence, I finally returned back
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to school. When I arrived in class, everyone asked me why I was absent for one week, including

the teachers, and I explained why. I held myself very tight and hid the tears that were showing

from time to time between my eyes whenever I remembered my grandfather. Days passed, and I

didn't want to attend school, so I told my parents, and they understood my situation, but they told

me that I needed to study at home if I'm not attending school, and I accepted. The end of term

one exams was near. I had two weeks and a half to study for eight subjects, but there was one

problem. The problem was I didn't have the energy and ability to study, but I forced myself to do

so.

For the last two weeks and a half, I studied for all eight subjects but without putting all

my effort and energy into it. My parents were worried about me. They saw that I wasn't handling

it well, nor was I studying enough for my exams. They took me aside and asked if I was alright

and doing fine, and I said yes. I could feel them not being convinced, but they ended the

conversation for the sake of not stressing me. After a while, we finished our exams, the results

came out and it was impressive, so were my twins' results. Both of them were ahead of me by a

few percentages which made my father question me. He took me aside and talked to me. He said:

"are you okay? Are you sad?" I answered:" no, why should I be sad?" I told him: "no, I'm happy

my grades are good, although I didn't study well." Afterward, my father told me I needed to

study harder for the next term, so I promised him I would do that. He then told me about his

inspiring story of his education life in America. He graduated from a government school in

Qatar, and he only knew two words in English which were 'yes' and 'no,' because he had the

potential and desire to study, he made it. He took courses in English to improve his language and

studied electrical and communication engineering, and now he has a bachelor's degree in

electrical and communication engineering. He also told me that there were few of his friends
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who didn't complete their education because they didn't have the desire to study and know they

are still searching for work. And his last sentence was: "don't forget your degree is your

weapon."

This sentence brought me back to life; it motivated me to put more effort into my studies

and study harder than I did in the first term. In the last term, I focused more on my studies,

worked hard and went to my exams with all my confidence. When the results were out, I was

very nervous to see my grades. Bad thoughts came to my mind while waiting for the results. But

when I saw the results, I cried involuntarily, also known as tears of happiness. My brother's

grades and I were impressive. It was not just remarkable. It was outstanding. And now, I'm

studying at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, majoring in computer engineering. So I want to thank

my parents, especially my father.