A little over a week ago I was at the mall with my friend and one of my roommates. It was a busy Friday where I was heading from one event to another, but they were all fun events. Until I got a text from my mom asking me to call her. I told her I’d call her after I finished being at the mall with my friend. That’s when she texted me to call her soon that it wasn’t going to be good news. My mind started to race at what it could be. I immediately called her back. I could tell from her voice that it was something life changing.

She told me that my grandmother had died earlier that day. My friend asked what my mom was calling about, and I told her. I suddenly burst into tears, and she asked what she should do. I told her to talk to me about anything, but the situation with my grandmother. That’s a brief way of how I am handling losing her. I have kept busy since her death, but every now and then I think about her. I can’t really wrap my head around it.

I think of all she has done for me in my past. She helped form me to the person I am today. She has always been a person I looked up to. She sacrificed a lot to help my family and me. She paid for trips with us. She let us use her car, which was one of the first cars I learned how to drive. She even let us live in her house for a couple years until she sold it.

She also is the one that showed me passion for the arts. She was a really great artist, and she taught me most of what I know about the visual arts. This is one thing that we shared, and usually what we bonded over. I always enjoyed seeing her artwork, and I always wanted to be as good as her. I don’t think I’ll ever be as talented as she was. I have a new respect for art though, because of her. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to pick up a colored pencil or a paintbrush without thinking of her.

I haven’t had the best luck in the grandparents’ department, but she was the one that I truly cared about and loved. She was the only grandparent in my life that made me feel like she cared and loved us as well.

Unfortunately, when she moved back to Florida we sort of grew distant, and this is the one thing I regret the most about her dying. I saw her 2 times since I started college. There were times I thought I should call her, but I never did. Now looking back, I wished I had called. The last time I saw her was a few weeks before she passed, and one of the few things she told me was that she regretted that we had grown distant in the past couple of years.

All this to say that if you still have a grandparent that you love and care about, then don’t have the regrets that I have. Take maybe an hour out of your day to call them, or schedule a time to visit them. You never know when you won’t have another opportunity to do so.

Some of my favorite memories with my grandmother:

• Her teaching me how to draw a flower.
• Her being at the big events in my life like my dance recitals, award ceremonies, etc.
• She helped me create a second altered book.
• When her and my family drove from South Carolina to Idaho.
• In her house, she allowed me to paint my whole room. This included a huge mural over my bed.

Scripture References:

• “‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” ~Revelation 21:4 NIV
• “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord” ~2 Corinthians 5:8 NIV
• “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” ~John 16:3 NIV
• “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it” ~Proverbs 22:6 NIV

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