It was just a normal day. Beep, beep, beep, my alarm went off at 5.45 like always, and I took a shower as usual. On my way to school that morning all I could think about was going to my grandmother’s house right after school. I was excited even though I knew she was sick and wouldn’t be able to do much. It’s not like we did much anyway, we usually played an exhilarating game of rummy and finished up with an invigorating round of checkers. But on this specific day I felt odd. Every time I thought about my grandmother she seemed to get further and further away, all I could think of was her being pulled towards a light. I knew what that meant so tried not to think about it.


I was sitting in math class when I got an urgent call that said I had to go to the office. I grabbed my things and I walked out the door. On the way to the office all I could think of was, “please don’t be about Nana, please don’t be about Nana.” When I saw my aunt Katy standing by the office door with a somber look on her face I knew what had happened, my Nana had lost her fight with cancer and had finally passed. My aunt told me that she had a severe stroke that attacked part of her heart and she only had a few hours left.


The last hour or so with Nana was brutal; I could barely look at her. The person who in my eyes was so strong, was just laying motionless on the bed, barley breathing, I began to slowly cry and as the tears rolled down my face I realized that even Nana, no matter how strong she was, wasn’t going to pull through. We all said our good byes, I gave her a hug and kissed her on the cheek, and she felt cold and looked very pail. I knew it was coming soon and I didn’t want see her when it happened because I wouldn’t be able to handle it. I walked out of the room as slow as I could; trying to cherish every last second I had, I got out the door and my heart dropped. I knew it was done, that was last time I would ever see her, the woman who I thought was so strong and so funny at times was gone forever.