Hi! So this post will be going into how I've been coping with soon-to-be tragedies in my family so if you aren't able for that, please, don't bother . I really only made this post to vent.
A couple weeks ago I came across this game on Nintendo store called 'Spiritfarer', and thought ,"hey that looks cool, and there's a demo! Sure I'll try it!" And lo and behold, I loved it, so I bought the actual game and played it.
Until I began interacting with the fan base, I didn't really understand the solemn message of the game, which is grief, and moving on. It is about guiding spirits to the afterlife after completing requests for them, it goes a lot deeper than that once you get into the lore side of things, but that's what it is in simple terms.
I got this game during a difficult period, a period I am still in actually. Which is, my grandmother is dying of stomach cancer. As well as my Great-aunt slowly fading away after a horrible, horrible, stroke she experienced over a year ago now. Not to mention, one of my older cousins got diagnosed with cancer, again, after being clear for a few years after fighting a different cancer for over 20 years, it's back somewhere else.
So a lot has been going on for me, funeral planning, most specifically . And a stressed family and mother.
One of the characters in the game is called Alice, I'll try not to go too in-depth about her story, but she began to experience dementia before we brought her to the Everdoor (afterlife). Misremembering and simply not remembering. That's happening to my grandmother, right now, she is experiencing the first stages of Alzheimer's. It's really sad, she is saying things that people did and said that didn't happen, and it's causing problems because what she's saying is really bad, 'you can't just say they did that' kind of bad. She is withering away and I just have to see her go, I know she's happy, end of life care in a beautiful hospice, genuinely a very nice place with very nice people.
And I guess it just hasn't really properly been processed in my head that she's dying, that this is the end of her life, yet ., because when she was just in the hospital, I could say, "no its grand. She'll be out soon, in her house, she'll be grand." But she won't be. She's 93, dying of stomach cancer which has spread to her liver. And she's in so much pain.
She's also tired. For the first bit, in the hospital and hospice, she had energy, she was exhausted yes, but she could stay awake, she could talk to us and not have to shut her eyes. Now she does . She doesn't realise people have visited purely because she slept through their visits. And my grandmother, who used to stay up till 1a.m. in the morning, even when my mam and aunts and uncles were kids, now sleeps at 12. She's dying, fading away and we can't do a thing to stop it.
She isn't even on death's doorstep, she is in his house, havin a cuppa, probably complaining about her husband, my grand-da, that I never got to meet. She would never say 'gone too soon', instead she'd find a way to give out to him beyond the grave, "should've given up those fags (cigarettes) when I told him to, he'd be here and I could berate him here and not at his grave," she said once. It was quite surreal for her to say that, because his death was kind of ironic. He smoked so much, when he began to feel unusual pains, he was scared he had lung cancer and was too afraid to visit the doctor about it, didn't want a diagnosis. But if he did go to a doctor, even a week earlier, he wouldn't have died of an aortic aneurysm.
There still wouldn't have been a chance for me to meet him mind you, it's his funeral where my parents met, I wouldn't have been born without him dying.
I also have just been kind of processing everything, it sounds mean, but right now, almost everyone in my close vicinity is hoping she dies before my Junior Cert, which is only about 3 weeks away. Not for her to be gone, god forbid, but so that I have the time to be wailing over her death, and it not affect my exams. Either way, she made it to May, which is what we were all hoping for. It's a silly thing in my family, regarding my Great-aunt and Grandma die in May, there'll be, what, 7 deaths in May now? We don't doubt this'll be the month, because now my Grandmother, she doesn't have much to fight for, she's at peace with that she's dying, she's lived a long life, experienced so much, why wouldn't she be ready? At first she wasn't, no one is I don't think, but some people resign to it, being their fate, my Grandmother, my amazing Grandmother, hasn't 'resigned' to it though, she is okay with it, she's okay.
She is okay.
But I'm really not. Because this is this, including my cousin, is the 6th person on my mother's side of the family to get cancer, and possibly die in my cousin's case, in the last 4 generations. It doesn't seem like much, but it was 3 of my Great-grandparents that died from cancer, the other one stroked. I'm not sure about my father's family history, his biological family isn't his family so he doesn't have much of an idea either. But, with so much cancer in the family, and the possibility that more will arise, scares me. I'm scared I will be the 'more will arise' because I don't want to die from cancer, I've seen what it does to you, your very self, and I just wouldn't be able to stand it. Everything is making me so scared, before I've even dawned my already planned funeral clothes for the already decided and sorted funeral. I'm scared, and I'm sad.
And that's where Stella, the SpiritFarer comes in. She upon, looking into lore, is experiencing her own journey of acceptance during the game, revealing that this is her on death's row and she's dying of a terminal illness after facing many hardships. I may not be in that situation now, but that could be me, my life flashing before my eyes, tainted by my fantasy driven mind.
I had a dream, the other night, that I was her, and instead of a base game spirit I was rowing to the Everdoor, it was my Grandmother. I dreamt that she was telling me all those stories she never got to, about the Troubles, Éamonn De Valera, and how he was a shite Taoiseach, she'd tell me about how it was like to read the newspaper and hear what was going on in the North. She'd tell me about my Grandfather, and how my Mam was like when she was young, "the spitting image of you (literally, it's really creepy)". She'd tell me jokes and rant about her stupid, but ultimately wonderful husband, who she'd spend everyday with just the same. She'd give me advice on cooking, sewing, everything, encourage me to learn new skills and become a plumber and "fix the bleedin' house before I was dying!". And all of a sudden, we were at the Everdoor, I'd help her stand up, with her beautiful cane, and I say goodbye.
It was a vivid dream, and I can tell it was my subconscious guilt tripping me, rightfully, about how I never spent enough time with her, I never listened to her stories, had her teach me something, play the piano in her living room like all my cousins could do, how I couldn't grow up fast enough to show her that she could be proud of me.
I know I'm young, kids are stupid and most kids reach adulthood before their grandparents die, and learn to appreciate them., but mine didn't, she's the last one and she's 93 and dying as I write this. Everyone is always so shocked to hear that a 15 year old has a 93 year old Grandmother, 40 year old cousins, uncles twice that and aunts close. But that just was my life, and I didn't get the privilege my older cousins had to live with my Grandmother, or to buy a house and show photos to her, bring my kid over or whatever, I won't get the chance to do that before she dies. Even now, I can't just visit, and if I were to, she wouldn't know, she's asleep right now I bet you.
So yeah, tragedy is becoming a big thing in my family at the moment and I am procrastinating on actually figuring that out in my head, because thinking too deep causes a lot of tears and I'm dehydrated enough as is. It's horrible because my literal Junior Cert is only like 3 weeks away and all this stress isn't helping and I just can't bring myself to study so I'm just gonna be a failure, I won't even be able to prove myself to her when she dies at this rate.
Moral of the story, love your Grandparents, talk to them and learn from them because you have the privilege others don't have at all.
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