Categories > Celebrities > My Chemical Romance > Memories
It was the day the band had been dreading; it was the funeral of Frank and Eleanor Iero. As they all got ready it was the older member that was stood at the window, of what was his best friend’s bedroom. He toyed with the envelope that was addressed to him contemplating if this was the time to open it, if he was strong enough to get through today without the need for encouraging words. Just as he contemplated his decision some more, his younger brother came in causing him to stuff the envelope in his inside jacket pocket.
“Sorry,” the younger Way spoke seeing his brother rush, “it’s just the car is here with them.” He looked over at his older brother. There was a niggling feeling in the tall brother about just how his elder sibling will cope today. Of course he can remember his brother’s melt down over the loss of their beloved grandma. He can also remember who it was taking care of Gerard; morning, noon and night and that that same person was no longer here to take care of him. Mikey, Ray, Alicia and Christa had all decided that they would take turns on checking on the leader of the band and to make sure that Robyn is ok too, everyone knew how close Robyn was to Eleanor, they also understood how difficult this must be for her too.
“Come on.” Gerard turned to face his brother after taking a deep breath. As the two Way’s made their way down to the front room where everyone else had gathered, there was no words spoken just glances at each other and small, reassuring, smiles passed to and fro.
The drive to the church was painful and silent. Robyn’s hand never left her husband’s pale one. Mikey’s hand never left Alicia’s knee, often squeezing slightly to assure her he was okay. Ray’s arm rested firmly around Christa’s shoulders, stroking small circles as she leaned in to her husband’s safe embrace. Once they arrived at the church, the members of the band got out ready to undertake their final show of respect to their fallen member. They took their places at the coffin of their best friend and slowly carried him as Robert Downey Jr’s version of “Smile” sang out. Eleanor had always gushed over the version, mainly because of her love for the actor, but she said that the song always did make her smile and that it gave her the strength to get through anything. Gerard had spent a long time listening to the song on loop and he too had to admit there was something so comforting about the song, that when commanded to smile, you did simply by the word.
As he continued to look back at to the time of the funeral, emotions of sadness obviously filled him but they were soon joined by pride. He was proud of the fact that he had managed to come through the difficult day and even managed to take care of a devastated Mikey. He was proud that it was he who the younger Way leaned on, just as Gerard had done on Frank. He was proud of the fact that he was best friends Frank and that they had shared so many memories together.
“Show starts in 10 guys!” Brian, their tour manager shouted in to their dressing room. This was the first show the band had performed in since the passing of Frank, it had been 5 years since the funeral and after taking much needed time off to reassess their feelings towards everything and in order to ensure that before they came back to make music they were all in a place in which they felt they could talk about their lost best friends. As Gerard got prepared to lead his band, his best friends out to their devoted fans who had done nothing but standby the band in this difficult time, making sure they knew that no matter what the band decided to do that the fans supported them 100 percent in their decision. It was time for the band to repay the favours to the fans now, they’d released their new album and now time for the worldwide tour. He felt something in his jacket pocket as he pulled it out he found the letter that he’d placed there when they left for the venue. Deciding that it was time to see what the young supportive couple had to say to him, he slowly opened the plain white envelope that had just his name on the front, written in Eleanor’s fancy handwriting.
Dear Gerard,
We’re writing this to give you strength. We know that right now nothing anyone will say will make a bit of difference to you. People will tell you that everything is going to be okay and not to revert back to old ways but you won’t listen. Right now everything will seem twice as bad, you will think you can’t cope, you may think you need to revert back to alcohol in order to cope. If you want to have a drink then have one, but before you engulf that Jack and coke, or maybe just the Jack, just think of what you have. You have a fantastic, beautiful and funny wife who is one person who is here now to support you. You have Mikey, who is a lot older now and you don’t need to protect half as much as you used to, in fact he will probably will be protecting you a lot more then you think, granddad. Finally you have Ray, that level headed, smart and frank man who will not stand for any shit you give. If you struggle Ray will keep you on the straight and narrow with his ways of getting you to focus.
Gerard, take comfort in knowing that we are so proud of you for overcoming what must have been so difficult for you when you lost your grandma. I know you try not to think of her as much as you’d like, the memories to painful, but just remember this; for every painful memory you have of her, there is probably double to the amount of good and happy memories that you hold in your heart. Just like your grandma, we’re not here now, but just like your grandma we’re watching over you with the best intentions and willing you to be okay. Just remember the techniques we used at Warped, how we wrote down all those negative feelings and what we did with them. How we wrote down all those memories you had and how you talked me all through them and we spent hours reliving them memories. Share them memories with Mikey and Ray, share the memories you have about Frank and I with the band, with the girls, remember all the good times you had.
You know Frank and I love you Gerard and you know that we hope you continue with the band, your comics and your life with Robyn. Whatever you chose to do in the future remember all you have and instead of seeing the negative in this, just think you spent time getting to this point in your life, do you really want to destroy that?
Gerard this isn’t a goodbye letter, this is letter to give you a few things to think about before you make a decision.
Good luck Gerard, we know you will make the right choice,
Frank and Eleanor Iero xx
As he read the letter he remembered all the tools Eleanor had taught him when she was treating the older Way for his alcoholism. She was a great believer in anything you need to do you can do, you can overcome everything without the need for prescriptive drugs. Gerard remembered how he felt when he shared the stories he had about his grandma how after coming out of those sessions, where the young friends usually went on walks around the park that they were staying in. The lead singer remembered how he felt better after sharing his memories with the rest of the band about Frank and Eleanor and how that had provoked many emotions within him, all of them good. As he allowed the emotions rush through him, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“This is for you two.” He whispered as he looked at the picture of his mentors, of his inspirations and of his best friends before he grabbed his bottle of water before taking to the stage and giving his all for the thousands of people that paid to see his band. “New Jersey!” the lead singer screamed as he looked at the spot where his best friend used to stand, he then turned looked at his other band members and smiled just as the opening to Look Alive, Sunshine rang out.
“Sorry,” the younger Way spoke seeing his brother rush, “it’s just the car is here with them.” He looked over at his older brother. There was a niggling feeling in the tall brother about just how his elder sibling will cope today. Of course he can remember his brother’s melt down over the loss of their beloved grandma. He can also remember who it was taking care of Gerard; morning, noon and night and that that same person was no longer here to take care of him. Mikey, Ray, Alicia and Christa had all decided that they would take turns on checking on the leader of the band and to make sure that Robyn is ok too, everyone knew how close Robyn was to Eleanor, they also understood how difficult this must be for her too.
“Come on.” Gerard turned to face his brother after taking a deep breath. As the two Way’s made their way down to the front room where everyone else had gathered, there was no words spoken just glances at each other and small, reassuring, smiles passed to and fro.
The drive to the church was painful and silent. Robyn’s hand never left her husband’s pale one. Mikey’s hand never left Alicia’s knee, often squeezing slightly to assure her he was okay. Ray’s arm rested firmly around Christa’s shoulders, stroking small circles as she leaned in to her husband’s safe embrace. Once they arrived at the church, the members of the band got out ready to undertake their final show of respect to their fallen member. They took their places at the coffin of their best friend and slowly carried him as Robert Downey Jr’s version of “Smile” sang out. Eleanor had always gushed over the version, mainly because of her love for the actor, but she said that the song always did make her smile and that it gave her the strength to get through anything. Gerard had spent a long time listening to the song on loop and he too had to admit there was something so comforting about the song, that when commanded to smile, you did simply by the word.
As he continued to look back at to the time of the funeral, emotions of sadness obviously filled him but they were soon joined by pride. He was proud of the fact that he had managed to come through the difficult day and even managed to take care of a devastated Mikey. He was proud that it was he who the younger Way leaned on, just as Gerard had done on Frank. He was proud of the fact that he was best friends Frank and that they had shared so many memories together.
“Show starts in 10 guys!” Brian, their tour manager shouted in to their dressing room. This was the first show the band had performed in since the passing of Frank, it had been 5 years since the funeral and after taking much needed time off to reassess their feelings towards everything and in order to ensure that before they came back to make music they were all in a place in which they felt they could talk about their lost best friends. As Gerard got prepared to lead his band, his best friends out to their devoted fans who had done nothing but standby the band in this difficult time, making sure they knew that no matter what the band decided to do that the fans supported them 100 percent in their decision. It was time for the band to repay the favours to the fans now, they’d released their new album and now time for the worldwide tour. He felt something in his jacket pocket as he pulled it out he found the letter that he’d placed there when they left for the venue. Deciding that it was time to see what the young supportive couple had to say to him, he slowly opened the plain white envelope that had just his name on the front, written in Eleanor’s fancy handwriting.
Dear Gerard,
We’re writing this to give you strength. We know that right now nothing anyone will say will make a bit of difference to you. People will tell you that everything is going to be okay and not to revert back to old ways but you won’t listen. Right now everything will seem twice as bad, you will think you can’t cope, you may think you need to revert back to alcohol in order to cope. If you want to have a drink then have one, but before you engulf that Jack and coke, or maybe just the Jack, just think of what you have. You have a fantastic, beautiful and funny wife who is one person who is here now to support you. You have Mikey, who is a lot older now and you don’t need to protect half as much as you used to, in fact he will probably will be protecting you a lot more then you think, granddad. Finally you have Ray, that level headed, smart and frank man who will not stand for any shit you give. If you struggle Ray will keep you on the straight and narrow with his ways of getting you to focus.
Gerard, take comfort in knowing that we are so proud of you for overcoming what must have been so difficult for you when you lost your grandma. I know you try not to think of her as much as you’d like, the memories to painful, but just remember this; for every painful memory you have of her, there is probably double to the amount of good and happy memories that you hold in your heart. Just like your grandma, we’re not here now, but just like your grandma we’re watching over you with the best intentions and willing you to be okay. Just remember the techniques we used at Warped, how we wrote down all those negative feelings and what we did with them. How we wrote down all those memories you had and how you talked me all through them and we spent hours reliving them memories. Share them memories with Mikey and Ray, share the memories you have about Frank and I with the band, with the girls, remember all the good times you had.
You know Frank and I love you Gerard and you know that we hope you continue with the band, your comics and your life with Robyn. Whatever you chose to do in the future remember all you have and instead of seeing the negative in this, just think you spent time getting to this point in your life, do you really want to destroy that?
Gerard this isn’t a goodbye letter, this is letter to give you a few things to think about before you make a decision.
Good luck Gerard, we know you will make the right choice,
Frank and Eleanor Iero xx
As he read the letter he remembered all the tools Eleanor had taught him when she was treating the older Way for his alcoholism. She was a great believer in anything you need to do you can do, you can overcome everything without the need for prescriptive drugs. Gerard remembered how he felt when he shared the stories he had about his grandma how after coming out of those sessions, where the young friends usually went on walks around the park that they were staying in. The lead singer remembered how he felt better after sharing his memories with the rest of the band about Frank and Eleanor and how that had provoked many emotions within him, all of them good. As he allowed the emotions rush through him, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“This is for you two.” He whispered as he looked at the picture of his mentors, of his inspirations and of his best friends before he grabbed his bottle of water before taking to the stage and giving his all for the thousands of people that paid to see his band. “New Jersey!” the lead singer screamed as he looked at the spot where his best friend used to stand, he then turned looked at his other band members and smiled just as the opening to Look Alive, Sunshine rang out.
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