The Death of Grandpa Yura

March 15, 2015. A month later, I was already feeling a bit better. I was playing my favorite champion, Veigar, in League of Legends - mainly because he could execute cool spells like "Primordial Burst" and "Event Horizon".

Suddenly, the phone rang in the next room. After a few seconds, someone picked up. It had to be Mom because after a few minutes of silence, I heard her loud crying. It was a completely different kind of crying than what I usually knew from her. That's when I knew immediately that something terrible had happened. My two sisters and Tobias, Mascha's boyfriend, were there that evening. We all hurried to Mom.

"What's wrong?" Mascha asked, but Mom kept crying without answering us.

"What's wrong? Come on, tell us what happened? Please answer," Mascha urged more dramatically, while we waited anxiously.

"My dad passed away!"

Mascha started crying too.

All night long, there was terrible lamenting. I couldn't sleep because it hurt to hear my mother cry like that. I went to her and hugged her. I talked to her about death and heaven, telling her that Grandpa wasn't really dead, but that he was still living - in heaven!

Faith was the only way to calm my mom. In difficult times, when a superstitious person like my mother longed for a miracle, that person couldn't handle rationality. My mother simply didn't want to believe that it was all over and she would never see her father again. At that time, she needed the hope of life after death, the hope of the existence of heaven, the hope of a reunion. It was only when I made my mom aware of life after death, assuring her that Grandpa was now safely with God, that she calmed down.

That night, I understood that from the perspective of a person in crisis, it doesn't matter whether God exists or not, as long as belief in Him helps to cope with the crisis. Without God, I could never have comforted my mother.

That night, I realized that from the perspective of a person in crisis, whether God exists or not is irrelevant. What matters is belief in God, which helps to cope with the crisis. Without this belief, I could never have comforted my mother. It was faith that gave her solace, and in that moment, I was very grateful for it, regardless of the question of God's existence.

After my mother fell asleep around two in the morning, I went to my room. I opened the window, looked up at the dark starry sky, and whispered, "Thank you for your help." I bowed and went to sleep.

Later, Grandma Lina recounted over the phone how it happened: After a drive, Yura got out of the car and simply collapsed to the ground. After a few hours in the hospital, he passed away. It turned out he died from untreated stomach cancer. Grandpa was buried right next to his mother, Anna Solomonova, at the cemetery in Kharkovskiy.

In Russia, it is a common tradition that after the death of a loved one, all relatives and acquaintances gather to mourn together, talk about the deceased, and exchange memories. Grandma even invited Galja and Gogi, and they came to this memorial service.

Grandpa Yura's death brought an unexpected turn in my grandparents' relationship. His death managed to shatter the indestructible hatred between them, but it plunged me even deeper into the depths of sadness.

Future Learning after Grandpa Yura's Death: If I am a very emotional and particularly lonely person, faith in God is the easiest way to cope with difficult phases of life.