I believe in family: the people who raise you and are around you all the time, the people that are there whenever you need someone for advice or just to talk to. These people are more than your heroes, are more than just a friend or a loved one, these people are your family.
I have always believed in the phrase “family comes first”. Whenever someone would say that I had to put school, sports, or even religion as the first priority in life, I always thought differently. There have been many special family moments and memories in my life that will stick with me until the day I die. But one of the most prominent memories of when I believed in family the most was when my grandpa was diagnosed with cancer.
My mom was picking me up for lunch one day when I was in sixth grade and only twelve years old. I saw her face and automatically knew something was wrong. As she looked over at me I saw the tears begin to fill her eyes as she told me what happened to my grandpa. This new information hit hard and was upsetting, but I was still inexperienced in life and still had the naive thoughts of a child. I thought everything was going to be all right. I trusted that the doctors would find a miracle cure because the idea of someone dying never bothered me, I had never witnessed the possibility. A few months later my other grandpa died of heart disease. I was stunned. All I thought about was why could God let this happen? I had never felt pain or sorrows like this before.
The summer rolled around the corner and I decided to visit my grandpa. I went out to stay with him and my grandma for a couple weeks, but then each time I was supposed to come home I decided to stay longer. My grandma has always described me that summer as being my grandpa’s shadow because wherever he went I was right by his side. I became closer to my grandpa that summer more than I had ever been my entire life. I ended up spending only about three weeks home out of the three-month summer.
The thought that this could be the last summer I had with my grandpa never really entered my mind until after the summer was over. I missed being there with him and helping him when he needed it. We still went to visit them almost every weekend but it wasn’t the same. After every visit my heart would sink the time we pulled out of the driveway because I had no way of knowing that there would be another weekend to spend with him. A few months after the summer my grandpa passed away in his sleep. Once again the feeling was there. I didn’t want to think about it because it was an unreal feeling that stayed with me for more than the next year.
I believe in the power of family. My whole life changed when my grandpa was diagnosed with cancer, and then my other grandpa died. Everything stopped and changed. Nothing was important except my family. This is a belief I’ve always had and will always have.