FORWARD Series // Maddie

Four days before Christmas, it was actually the day that Christmas break was starting in high school for us. There was an announcement over the intercom, and it was like, “Madison Price, please come to the office.” Which I was like, “Oh, God” like “What did I do?” I get down to the office and my sister’s there waiting for me, crying. And I was like, “Oh my gosh, what happened?” And she was like, “Mom called me. They had to take Dad to the hospital, he’s in the ER right now, like, we have to go right now.” And we got on the elevator and I just remember it being the longest elevator ride, and all of these emotions and thoughts running through my head. They filed all my family into this tiny room in this hospital, and this guy I’ve never met before comes in and he informed us that my father passed away, he had a heart attack in front of my mom, he died, like, in my mom’s arms at our family business. My dad and I did get into a fight the night before. Obviously, if that was the last moment I had with him, I would’ve wanted it to be one of the best moments that we had together. So you know, just a lot of guilt at the time. Honestly, I thought it was like this terrible nightmare and that I was going to wake up for a minute. My dad’s death did not register with me. I didn’t think it was real. And so, instead of dealing with my father’s death at the time and being upset about it, I decided to become numb and become a robot, and create new routines and take on more responsibility, and just push down what I was feeling and like, completely ignore, like, how my dad’s death affected me. And honestly, I just carried on life as if nothing happened. Feeling sad was just not a valid emotion, because I always wanted to live this perfect life for my friends, and show that, like, nothing is wrong with my life and I live a great life. I think one day I finally was like, “I just don’t think I can live my life like this anymore, and I need to be honest with how I'm feeling, because the way I’m feeling, it’s not wrong and shameful. Whether it’s with going to counseling–which I think there can be sometimes a negative stigma–it’s been very helpful for me. Or talking to my best friends or literally talking to my dog. You know, getting it out and putting it out there, just I think, has helped me feel so much better.

campus experience 2:15 FORWARD Series // Maddie

By:

Christina Franusich

31 Jul 2019 315

Maddie Price talks about the death of her father when she was a freshman in high school, and how after several years she finally confronted the emotions she had been keeping locked up inside.

More from the FORWARD series: https://well-being.vt.edu/forward.html
Resources for Well-Being: https://well-being.vt.edu

Want to share your story? Give a shout to Tammy Tripp at ttripp [at] vt [dot] edu

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Produced by Virginia Tech Student Affairs Communications
🎥: Andrew Huang '19
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FORWARD is a series from Student Affairs featuring Virginia Tech students, faculty, staff, and alumni who have faced, overcome, or learned from life's obstacles and setbacks. FORWARD aims to normalize the conversation about hardships we endure and to encourage resilience.

Student Affairs Communications welcomes your stories of resiliency to be featured as part of the FORWARD Campaign.