The month of June was the most dramatic time of my family’s life. Mouth Cancer had taken my grandfather. Even though he hadn’t smoked in twenty years, it brought my family’s pain back to the moment when he put his chapped lips on that brown smoky cigar. He went through a lot of cemo, radiation, and he knew the doctor’s office like the back of his hand. Since I was still in school, I couldn’t visit my grandparents when they went out of state.
While my grandfather was gone I was scared he wouldn’t come back, I always had a cold depressed feeling. My grandfather and I had a very tight relationship, but it didn’t show through words, it showed through emotion. When my grandparents got back, one side of my grandfather’s mouth was twice as big as the other side.

Even though he said nothing about pain, you could see it in his cold gray eyes. On July 9th a lot of my family members joined me in the hospital waiting room. Some of us were allowed to come back, but not everyone. My Uncle Dubbie and Aunt DeAnne wanted to see my new house. So, my parents talked to the doctor and he implied that we had enough time. We crammed 7 people into a dirty dodge derango that only had 6 seats up – not fun.

“Oh my gosh I love your new house, very beautiful,” my Aunt said, still in shock.

“Thank you, it still needs work though,” my mother said happily.
I kept looking at the clock, wishing I had stayed at the hospital. All of the sudden my dad’s phone went off, I jumped back, knowing what the call was all about.

“You need to come now,” my grandmother said impatiently. As we rushed into the car, mixed emotions started rushing through my body. Right when we got into the elevator, my dad’s phone went off, again.
“Hurry!” my aunt said as quickly as she could. When the elevator finally got to our floor, my mother and I sprinted down the hallway, hoping we could make it in time. The clock ticked 8:07 pm. I looked over at the EKG, and the lines started to get shorter. I felt like I was going to vomit.

Then I heard a long piercing beep. I knew at that moment my life would be changed forever. I couldn’t bare staring at the body that use to be my sweet loving grandfather. Even though we cried and missed him, we all knew that dying was a part of the life cycle and God would take very good care of him. When I look back at this moment, I remember that you don’t realize how much you love someone till their gone.