And there you have it; the open coffin. The coffin placed in front of the room was the center of attention among the ten rows of church-like pews with a maximum capacity of 250 people. An enlarged photograph of my cousin, right next to the coffin, stood out among the other smaller photographs that were placed throughout the room. The room was silent and cold; but the silence was soon broken by the soft but resonant voice of my Aunt Diana as she said "my son, my son" and ran to my cousin's side. Soon, everyone else in my family surrounded her and started crying too. I didn't know what to do. Seeing my cousin's dead body broke my heart once again; but I didn't want to show any vulnerability. I wanted to put a brave face on my family because I wanted them to worry about themselves and not the younger generation. When I first heard this horrible and traumatic news, I was in tears and everyone was trying to console me. They were worried about me, my younger cousins ​​and my brothers. I felt like they couldn't really grieve since they were too busy worrying about others. Well, now I had to wear this mask, the mask of courage, and I kept pinching myself to stop the tears from falling. I had hoped that this physical pain would prevent me from feeling the emotional pain; and yet it barely worked. I didn't want to cry. Today wasn't just my cousin's day; but also the day of his mother and his brother Luis. I was about to burst into tears again when I saw Juan bringing cups full of water for my aunts. It was a wonderful idea. I was occupying my mind with taking care of my family, supporting them, so I ran out of the room and towards the entrance hall. Right off the start... middle of paper ...... he spoke about life's small problems, but instead looked for simple ways to solve them. My cousin was right, we only have a short life to live and we had to make the most of it. I always take a camera when I know I'm going somewhere to have fun. And I always do fun things to commemorate the life my cousin lived. As I said my final “goodbyes,” I began to sob again; but I understood that it was natural. I'm a human being, not a robot, so it's natural for me to express my feelings. I leaned over and kissed my cousin on the forehead, then felt the words engraved on the coffin. They read “Jesus Alberto Crosby, November 1, 1976 – May 25, 2009.” “This isn’t goodbye, I’ll see you again Beto,” I said under my breath. Beto was my cousin's nickname. With that, I left and I still apply his wise advice to my daily life..