Grief. Misfortune. Sorrow. Pain. On November 26, 2006, I visited the hospital with my mom, two aunts, three cousins, and uncle. Alone in the room laid my grandmother barely awake, the reality of it was she was dying of lung cancer, and had been down for the past four months. We all tried our best to keep spirits high and to not feel ashamed or depressed about the current situation. But as I looked around the room, I could see right through it all. “This can’t be happening”, I thought to myself as I stared into my grandmother’s face and back to the beeping machine next to her.

We kept up conservation to help lift her spirits, but my grandma was never the type to ignore reality, for she knew the truth and didn’t try to deny it. She sat us down, just my cousins and I, after our parents left the room, to assure us that we’d be okay when she left us, and to stay on the path to success. When our moms returned, no words were exchanged, just the looks of sadness and tears of despair. We said our goodbyes and returned home.

November 27, 2006 is the day she left us. I remember the ride in the car with my father on the way to the hospital. He tried his best to prepare me for the news, but nothing would make me take it any easier. I walked to the door of the room, and my mother met me before I entered. “Granny’s gone, say goodbye”, is what she told me. I walked in to see her lying in bed looking as if she was just asleep. I stood frozen for a moment and proceeded to cries and sobs into my mother’s arms. “She just looks asleep”, my cousin Jermaine says to us all. “Well, she was very tired, now she can take her rest”, my mother replied back. For my grandmother had been the keeper of us all since her own children were born. I gave her a kiss said goodbye, I didn’t know if I would make it through the day. Finally we were told she had to be wheeled out. At that moment the true feeling of never seeing her again began to sink in. We proceeded out of the hospital, and I began to recognize reality…