“On the afternoon of December 14, I was in Union Station at a celebration of life for one of my best friends, Christian Anderson, who died in October,” Jake wrote in the essay shared to Substack. “It was at that moment I received a call from my sister Romy telling me our father was dead. Minutes later, she called back telling me our mother was also dead.”
“My world, as I knew it, had collapsed,” he said. “I was in a trance. The only thing I could focus on was that I needed to get to my childhood home. I needed to get to my sister. I needed to figure out what the hell just happened.”
Posted by Twisbi
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We don’t need to know the nitty gritty details of this one.
As an older sister, I cannot imagine the strength of character it took for Romy to make those back-to-back phone calls. Knowing what her brother was doing when she called to deliver the news. Plus, it sounds like she withheld the worse initially. I mean, it’s a small detail, but to have that blow withheld a bit might have been a blessing, too.
My heart goes out to the Reiner children, including the one who robbed the others of their parents though for different reasons in his case. (Before I get downvoted to oblivion: I believe he needs to face the consequences of his actions fully. I’m just incapable of even imagining the toll taking responsibility for what he did would take on a normal person. Assuming he gets there eventually. Hence my heart breaking for him, too.)
What a tragedy. How terrible it must be for the family to have to have gone through this.my heart goes out to them.
Their brother robbed them of so much. So utterly unfair.
Such a tragedy. I cannot imagine. It’s a nightmare.
To be at a funeral while receiving this information is even more dark, really set up the piece we’ll story wise if that makes sense to share that 🙁 this was really beautiful to read and I think encapsulated what a large loss this was; many people that knew them and many of us who didn’t but were touched by their lives and the joy and memories they brought to us.
I cried a bit reading it. My heart is with him.
Every part of this makes me nauseous and my heart break. I read somewhere that Nick had schizophrenia and had his medicines changed a month before the act. I don’t know how much his condition had a hand in this, but one of my best friends has this conditions as well, and it doesn’t manifest violently with them. Maybe my friend is lucky, or maybe there was just more to it with Nick.
I find it so so hard to imagine being one of the siblings to have to deal with this. Ugh its so awful.
That was beautiful. God bless this poor family. What an absolute tragedy on every level 💔.
>She’d be in the passenger seat saying, “19 years in prison over a loaf of bread? That’s the whole premise?!”
In a celebration of Michele I have to note how hilarious this is lmao. God rest her soul.
My heart shattered reading this. I hope everyone surrounding Jake and Romy are showing them so much love.
His grief is palpable. He is a son who truly misses his mom and dad.
Here is a direct link to his essay (instead of reading an article that quotes it): https://jakereiner.substack.com/p/mom-and-dad?r=87wbto&utm_medium=ios&fbclid=PAdGRleARYWTdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAac3XzflAd0FoOIHfbTgtZ727UfZadeLdoa89VocKNHja5luXI01LyeTiOJCiw_aem_nAerI5Jjax8UP6lvECM0tg&utm_id=97760_v0_s00_e0_tv6_a1dennhaweo8ts&triedRedirect=true
Heart wrenching.
I remember hearing the news and feeling gutted. I had heard of him throughout my life though never put a face to his name.
Then I watched “The Bear” a couple months ago and Albert Schnur was a pleasant surprise in an otherwise mediocre season and I was excited to see what they’d do with him in the next season.
Only to find out it was Mr. Reiner playing him in what would be his final acting role.
I’m sure they’ll dedicate an episode or the entire final season to him.
Ah man, this is breaking me this morning. Jesus Christ, what a tragedy.
I wonder how much Rob and Michele enabled their son’s addiction. Not to judge but to hopefully avoid the same happening with my children if possible.
This is still such an incredibly horrendous situation. Breaks my heart. These poor people.
a harrowing read. i think about him and romy often for people i don’t know. i cannot even begin to imagine. i hope they find some sort of peace eventually.
r/sadupvote
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That’s really sad.
This is such a sad read!
It’s interesting how he did not even acknowledge his brother’s part in it in any way or even his mere existence.
He only speaks of Romy. It’s as if she’s his only sibling.
Almost as if there was only two of them ( Romy and himself).
Somehow, I completely understand and even agree with him.
If a sibling did something like that to a parent, I don’t even know what I’d do. I’d probably cut them out of my mind too.
“It’s not lost on me that I was able to have these incredible experiences, that most people don’t get to have, because of who my parents were,” he said. “But I would trade every Dodger game, every Broadway show, every vacation, if I could just spend just one more hour talking to them and to say goodbye.”
Excuse me while I sob and call my mom.
An unimaginable situation to be in.
“We lost more than half of our family that night…”
so brutal and heartbreaking.