Hello,

Grief is a strange thing, It's missing someone that you know will never be about to write back, make new memories with.

Though the one thing is that you know that they are no longer suffering from their disease.

My family has, surprisingly, been in good health, excluding all of the junk food and sometimes reckless actions they may have done, such as not managing their medication properly.

My family, on both sides, tends to live to a median of 80 years old, which is insane to think about, so it hurts even more when they pass away.

In 2021 my great aunt was suffering from end stage heart failure caused by her steroids from pervious battles with cancer and terrible salt consumption.

My grandma was tasked with taking care of her sister and driving back and forth to the hospital, which is a lot when you live an hour away from each other and you have your own health situation.

I dropped out of collage that year and made the decision to temporarily relocate to Detroit to be an acting caregiver.

She was able to do basic things like take care of her hygiene and do light cleaning, but driving, grocery shopping as well as just calling people for home Maintenace became very exhausting, so I would do those things for her.

Before she passed away we did this several month road trip where we traveled around the state of Michigan.

We went to my favorite place first, Mackinac Island, where they do not have any cars there. You can walk, take a horse or bike. So of course, we got fudge and all sorts of toys.

Then we went over the bridge to the Upper Peninsula, and went to Whitefish point, pictured rocks and Tahquamenon falls. I even got to run into Lake Superior, which I don't recommend doing. I felt like my legs went numb in an instant.

We then traveled to Petosky, Traverse city as well as Sleeping Bear Dunes. Which I hiked about half a mile before turning back. Then I had a stern talking to about how she was going to call the police because I was gone for so long. Then I counteracted with, well why couldn't you have called me? That ended the conversation pretty fast.

I also have some pictures she tried to take of me with my smartphone, and you can imagine how those turned out.

In the springtime we went to Holland Michigan for the tulip festival.

That was one of the coolest things I have seen, but moving a metal wheelchair in the dirt was something I learned how to become an expert in.

That's a very small snippet of thing we did together, though obviously I wish I had more time with her. I'm sure she would agree.

She never had children, so I felt like I was the daughter she never had, and of course I treated her as such. She spoiled me rotten with ice cream and constant dinner nights.

She taught me to always eat dessert first and to never feel guilty for your values.

I go by that now, so ice cream usually comes before dinner, my fiancé doesn't get it but he accepts that's who I am.

I am sad to know that she'll never see me graduate collage or get married. Though I know for a fact that she would approve of my engagement ring being that she was a huge nerd for gems.

I took her minivan about a year later being that the car I shared with my brother was becoming very unreliable. That was the car I drove around the state with.

You can imagine how distraught I felt when I got my car totalled due to a distracted driver rearending me in one lane traffic.

Though I know she'll be with me always, in every adventure and in every car.

I do have her engagement rings, while my grandma has her bands.

Moral of the story is, write your grandparents a letter, or call them every once in a while. If you have the ability, make some trips out there, have dinner with them

You just never know when you will no longer be able to.

Hug your mum, tell people you love them, cook with them.

I will always talk to her picture and let her know what's going on. I am not religious, but I know if she heard me that she would be proud or give me words of encouragement.

Be kind to yourself and others.

-Uggledamen