My grandmother and I have always been close ever since I was little. She lived on Potters Rd. in South Buffalo. We would have numerous tea parties and bake till the day was gone. We baked anything possibly known to man. Every spring my grandma would plant flowers, she would walk out in her gardening gloves and a smile on her face just ready to waste the day laughing at whatever grandpa did that was silly. My grandma had auburn short curly hair. She always had to have her make-up just right or she wouldn’t go out in public, her lipstick and eyebrows had to be symmetrical and her hair had to be plump. My grams had an obsession with nail polish, hair curlers and earrings. You couldn’t even pull her away from an Avon catalog!

Early in January my grandma came down with pneumonia. The doctors could not figure out why or how it came. Almost a week or two late the pneumonia was gone but she still had a really bad cough. When my grandma went to the doctors she was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. The news was devastating. No one ever thought that crazy grandma would have anything wrong with her. I mean sure she had sicknesses here and there but nothing this serious. I was told by my mother. It was mid afternoon and I was watching one of my favorite T.V shows “NEXT”. My mom had tears in her eyes and said “Courtney… Bev has cancer”, I could feel the salt in my tears rising. I had no reaction. My mom was just bursting out with tears; I had never seen her act this way. She repeatedly told me how she felt bad at what she had done years ago and how she wouldn’t be able to see grandma when she died or even before it as a matter of fact. My mom and dad years before divorced because of their differences and my mom had cheated on my father with another woman named Marcy. They tried to patch things up between the families but it didn’t really work out with my dad’s side of the family. My grandpa still doesn’t really like my mom to this day.


A couple of days later to be exact my mother came into my room again and said how she would be seeing my grandma with my sisters and I that coming weekend. That weekend we packed our bags and visited my grandmother in Buffalo in her yellow modern house with black shudders. She had her ruby red lipstick on and her hair was freshly curled to perfection. Her smile was so big you could see her lips curling up like she was sucking a bad lemon. We chatted for about three hours talking about when grandma got out of the hospital from treatment [and beating it] her, aunt Linda and grandpa were going to the Bahamas to celebrate. While we we’re having our conversation grandma said that she was going to the hospital that Monday and would begin her month of treatment.


As soon as my grandma went in the hospital my sister Erica kept close to her everyday calling when grams was up to it and ask her how her day was going and what else they had tried on her. Day after day she sounded sicker. She refused to be on machines. Those last few weeks we’re hard on everyone.


It was Valentines Day. When I came home from school; I found out that around One O’clock she passed away. They sat me down and when they said the bad news it seemed impossible. I was in denial. They kept asking me if I was okay and I nodded.

We arranged plans that night to go Saturday morning for the funeral services. The funeral services came and everyone was crying. So many people came to see her. I was amazed, the whole room was jam packed with people, and we even had to open up a new separator. Me and my cousins and sisters sat together in silence; confused out of our minds. It almost felt empty; I don’t think we ever felt that before. The only thing going through my head was Grandma was gone.