The next part of this story begins after my grandma’s funeral. I was back in school for the following weeks. When I would come home from school now, I would notice my mom on the phone with my uncle most days. Their discussion consisted of small talk and checkups of how my grandpa was doing. Since we left my grandpa’s health was going downhill rapidly and I don’t if I could blame him for being depressed, he just lost his wife of 62 years and more importantly his best friend. At the time we were doing the most we could to help him survive by forcing him to drink strong protein shakes for nutrition, but it was clear to us that he didn’t them. After all no one can survive off protein shakes every day without ever eating anything.
While back in school I was working on getting caught up again after missing a week or more of school and it was not an easy task and put a lot of stress on me. My dad picked me up from school one Friday and told me that we would have to talk. I immediately thought it was something I did but he assured me that it wasn’t. Once we got back to my house, he told me that my other grandma was having bad breathing problems and that he would be leaving town for a while to checkup on her until she felt better. I didn’t go with because I’ve missed so many days of school and it wasn’t that serious at the time. My grandma struggled with asthma so this rather common for her in the winter months.
About three to four weeks had passed since my grandma on my moms’ side had passed. One day my dad made a family group chat to inform me and my family that the doctors had discovered that my grandma had pneumonia. Usually this wouldn’t be that critical to worry about because in most cases if someone gets pneumonia they can go to the hospital and get the treatment they need to make a healthy recovery. Although in my grandma’s case being as old as she was it could be hard to fight off and could be potentially deadly for her. On top of that my grandpa wasn’t doing the greatest either and he continued not to eat.
This is not the news I wanted to hear but I would pray that she would be able to fight it off. In the being I remained in school until my dad came back to town. That’s when everything turned into a nightmare. My dad told me that from what he heard from the doctors my grandmas’ chances of betting this were slim to none because her condition was getting worse. My mom and my dad both left for southern Minnesota and brought me with to checkup on my grandparents. Once we got there, I knew it would be bad because my parents would not take me out of school for no reason at this point. I went to visit my grandma first and she was in bad shape. When I walked into her room it reminded me of my other grandma and I knew that at this point time would be very precious. Like my other grandma she could not talk and was connected to a lot of machines and it was a lot for me to take in.
We couldn’t do a lot of visiting with my grandma because of the state she was in. Once we left the hospital, we went to my other uncle’s house and he let my dad and I use both of his guest bedrooms for the days following. It seemed almost impossible for me to fall asleep that night I kept tossing and turning all night. Around two in the morning I heard noises downstairs and went to check it out. It turned out to be my dad and uncle on the phone. I knew exactly what happened once I saw the tears flooding my dads’ eyes. When my uncle got off the phone my dad told me that my grandma had passed and we bear-hugged and shared tears together. While dad and my uncle set up the funeral, I spent the rest of the week with my grandpa who was in just as bad as shape. When visiting my grandpa, we stayed with my mom’s aunt. She was a small old lady who seemed crabby at first. As the week went by, I talked to her a lot and enjoyed the advice she would give me. I learned a lot about her through the many stories she would tell be over the week. She even had some stories with my grandpa when he was younger. The most important thing that I took from her stories and advice was to strive to do your best even when life throws you curve balls.
Once Tuesday came around, I went to my grandma’s funeral which was hard for my dad and me. Once it was over, we finished up some final things and were going to get ready to head back to Amery the next day. That’s when we got news from my mom that we needed to go back to where my grandpa lived because he was doing not doing good. So, my dad and I went to meet my mom at the hospital, but he ended dying before we got there.
In this story the timeline might not be exactly right but all three of my grandparents died within about two months of each other. I do miss them a lot each day, but I refuse to let myself get sad over the subject anymore. I say this because that’s not what my grandparents would have wanted, they would’ve rather seen me trying my best and looking back on old memories that we shared together. This year has truly been an eye-opening year for me and I’m starting to realize that time and memories are far more important than objects and money. So, cherish all the family time you get and don’t forget to let your loved ones know you love them because tomorrow isn’t promised