Shawn Cumberland
Published on December 10, 2018
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/forever-transformed-lln-shawn-cumberland/
I can never be the same again.
Two months ago I had intended to pin a follow-up to the story of our family’s quest to find Iris Jones — the young girl who saved my young father’s life in Philadelphia Mississippi 83 years ago.
Original story/postings at following link: “Quest for Iris” post
The punch line was that our efforts following our meeting with the mayor and publishing a local article had finally paid off – we had located Iris’ daughter Geneva. However, I was holding off posting the uplifting sequel until my son Nicky and I could coordinate our “family reunion” with Geneva.
Tragically, my beloved 20-year old son was killed as passenger in an auto accident coming from a university club offsite event. Nicky was valedictorian at Houston’s Memorial High School and an ultra-active/high-achieving junior at the University of Texas (a triple major in the Business Honors and Radio, Television, Film departments), who deeply impacted many people during his life with the abundant and selfless love he shared.
I’m forever haunted by the words I posted 10 months ago to describe the old photograph of my dad and Iris that I keep at my office: “the image represents how life is precious, beautiful and random all at once.”
My grief is bottomless, tears are daily and I’m indelibly changed for life. I won’t apologize for this Facebook-esq post, because this horrible event now defines me as much as (probably more than) anything else on my profile page.
[Numerous third-party tributes to Nicky can be found on my personal Facebook page, which is fully public. Accordingly, I’ll seek to limit such posts on this forum. One exception, however, is a video from a dear friend: Video Tribute to Nicky]
I’m changed in a painful way that I can’t describe. However, I’m committed to adopt important lessons of life and love that I’ve learned from an amazing teacher — my son. These will be included in the remainder of my mission.
#LoveLikeNicky