On Sunday, February 8, 1998 my mother’s only brother got killed in a car accident (he was waiting for his turn to enter a roundabout when a drunk driver lost control and slammed violently against his car). He was just 52 years old.
It was the first time that I had to deal with the concept of abrupt death in my personal life. Sure, I had already lost three grandparents – to be fair, I never even met two of them, my mother’s parents – and had seen my fair share of old people succumb to multiple health problems, but I never had to witness what such an event brings into your inner personal nucleus.