Mourning Dove Counseling

In the midst of this transformation, everything was tragically upended.  This may seem a strange departure from what was just stated about the family doing well.  The truth is that things had improved, but the struggle that both boys felt in terms of making their way in life remained as did Nathan's struggle with occasional, yet intense, bouts of depression.  While vacationing in Delaware to attend the wedding of a dear friend, the Delaplanes received a call on Gary’s cell phone from one of Nathan’s best friends. 

 

The friend, in shock, simply said “Mr. Delaplane, this is Paul. Nathan hung himself and he’s dead.” With those few words uttered by Nathan's best friend - words that Paul had said nearly verbatim earlier to Aaron, who was then a student at UGA and received the call in his apartment where he had been studying.  Gary, Elvira, and Aaron suddenly found themselves in a state of denial, dread, and disassociation from the present moment, the pain of which their minds were hopelessly unequipped to handle.