Two Nights

“Goodbye and I love you” were the last words I heard from my grandpa. He died two nights later on Wednesday September 5, 2007. I remember knowing that it had happen because my mom was home that morning when I got up for school. She had been spending most of her times at my grandparent’s house, so I could tell right away that he was gone. My mom didn’t break the news to me my dad did. He was sitting on the couch still in his pajamas with a pillow on his lap and a depressing look on his face. All I said was “is he gone?” With a tired look on his face my dad said “yeah honey he is.” I stood up and just walked away.

The funeral was a week later. It was a hot sticky day. I was standing in the church with my cousins we all had the same blank look on our face, and one thought went through my mind. What was going to happen? My grandfather was the man that held our family together. With his tall stature that got shorter over the years, and the way he wore his button up shirts and visors with his air born and Purple Heart pins. He was such a strong loving and caring person.

Through the entire ceremony I felt numb. The person I’ve looked up to was gone, but in the back of mind I knew he was in a better place. As I sat there I began to reminisce on memories of my own. All those times he would pick me up from school and get me a snack at the gas station near his house and sing his Mexican music while driving or when he’d let me eat all the vanilla ice cream cups with chocolate or strawberry swirls I want without telling my mom. Who eventually found out but the thought of it made her smile and say “Did he really”? It all made me smile and see a way of hope.

My grandmother was the one person I worried about the most. After the funeral I was sitting there eating with her and the thing she said has stuck with me ever since “just keep moving forward tomorrow brings another day,” and that I believe. I was very close to my grandpa and each day I find myself missing him and that it’s hard I think back to that day the way my grandma looked at her wedding ring, how half a sandwich was on her plate, and those words that came out of her mouth had so much meaning behind them. They keep me going through any hard time. “Just keep moving forward tomorrow brings another day,” this I believe.