Who is your bestfriend? You probably said a family member right? Well, they probably have a reason they are your “best friend” don’t they? Well, my best friend is my papaw. He truly saved my life. But not in the way you’re probably thinking of right now.

Everyone deserves a grandpa right? I mean, obviously everyone deserves a grandpa. But some people don’t get the chance to have a grandpa. The person that is supposed to be the cute, loving, little old man that you will always call your best friend. Well, I didn’t really have that chance. When my dad started living in his own here in Ohio, his parents moved away to Georgia. Sadly, not much later they got a divorce but neither of them moved back to Ohio. So, I never really get to see my grandpa Harrod down south.

That leaves it up to my mom’s dad. My grandpa Harry. Well, sadly, my grandpa Harry died from a heart attack all the way back when my mom was eleven. I never got to meet him, but ever since I was born my mom, along with my aunts and uncles, have made him a big part of our lives. They are always talking about him. I have learned that he was a very very good man. My mom is always saying the funniest things followed with “That’s something your grandpa Harry would always say to me.”

Well my grandma did an amazing job down here in Ohio playing both roles of Grandma and Grandpa. She is my best friend and I cherish every moment I get to spend with her. Well, I can’t take anything away from my Grandparents down in Georgia. They are both amazing people that I get to see one to two times every two years. But that doesn’t mean anything, I have the best grandparents that there is.

But, I grew up rarely having a grandpa. That is something that no kid should ever have to go through. Luckily, one day a little old man stepped in my life and allowed me the ability to call this man Papaw. Was he my grandpa? No, actually, he was my cousin’s grandpa. But that didn’t stop him from being the best man in the world. He kinda “adopted” a few of my cousins, who also never had a grandpa, and I. We were his “adopted grandchildren” as he would always call us.

I was able to talk to Papaw about anything and everything. He always took me and my cousins everywhere with us. He let me experience “turtle surfing” and take my word, that is very fun! Papaw took “Zoo Guy” or Ron, everywhere with him! He was like papaw number two. They took us everywhere together. Papaw had a huge van and we would all come over, hop in the van, and just go anywhere. From going to Wendy’s (our favorite place), to just driving for a little bit. We could count on Papaw for everything. If we had a craving for ice-cream? Just call Papaw, he will take us to get some. 

Then, one day Papaw got sick. They had to put him in the hospital because his diabetes were getting bad. Papaw took pretty good care of his diabetes but not as good as he probably should’ve. He always had candy just laying around his house but he never ate it. He always said that it was for emergencies only. But he always let us eat it.
It was the afternoon of March 15th 2016. I had an amazing day that day and was sitting at the end of the driveway just waiting on my sister to get off the bus so I could take her home. I got on facebook just messing around and saw something that my cousin had posted. It was a picture of her and Papaw with “Never take anyone for granted and always love and cherish your grandparents.” captioned to it. I didn’t really know what that was about because my cousin wasn’t the type of person to post stuff like that just randomly. But then I saw it. The over 10 comments that my cousin doesn’t usually get on her pictures. That’s when I started reading them. “Sorry for your loss.” “He’s in a better place now.” Just comments like that. Did Papaw die? Nobody ever told me? That’s when I lost it. Just tears upon tears and more tears. I didn’t know what to think. This man was my grandpa and best friend and now he’s gone.

Deaths weren’t something that happened normally in my life. I had only gone through one other death my entire life. My cousin Mitch. It was back in 2012 when I was on my way back from vacation at Mrytle Beach with my family when I found about this. He wasn’t driving but he had been underaged drinking. So after that I always thought, well now I have someone looking over me. My very own angel.

Then Papaw died. It was so hard to think about the fact that I won’t have a grandpa here in Ohio anymore. I didn’t know what to think. I had already gotten through one death in the family, now two? How was I supposed to get through this. Then I thought to myself, Papaw gets to visit Mitch. He can share with him everything that has been going on since he left. Mitch would be so proud of us. Mitch can introduce Papaw to heaven and how it’s like up there. They have each other now and that’s all I can think about.

Here is one thing to think about, never take anyone for granted. Love everyone. You might not realize but a lot of people take almost everyone for granted. That is the worse thing you could possibly do to another person. Cherish every moment you have with anyone. Not just your loved one, anyone. You never know when you will have your last conversation with someone. Always be sure to end it on good terms. And always be kind.