Grandmother
The author of this story has created the collage seen above. (Click to see the full-sized image.)
I am a person who is fun-loving and loyal. I move around a lot when I laugh; jump around a lot when I telling something I’m excited about. I walk really fast and am unaware of what’s going on around me. I believe in hope and being all I all can be. When I do good things I am modest about it Some of my strong points are math, solving logical problems, and helping people. One weakness I have is managing my time..I mostly wear my hair either in braids, a ponytail, or just hanging. I am loyal and a good listener. My family finds liars annoying. I hate liars and negative people I like music and doing hair. I am a leader because I make my own decisions. I admire my grandmother.
It was during the spring; around Father’s Day of 2003, when my Grandmother first got sick. Father’s Day was a Sunday that year. We came to Chicago on Monday or Tuesday when I was only thirteen years old. I had just graduated out of the eighth grade. My grandmother got really sick and stayed in the hospital for over three months. The doctors still don’t know what happened to her. Most of her organs stopped working. She turned dark from her liver failing. She was on life support for one month. My mother, brother, and I had to move back from Chicago to help take care of her.
My grandmother got sick in Chicago. At first she just had a cold, and she went to hospital to see about it. She got really sick at the hospital. I had never even seen my grandmother with a cold and all of a sudden she was on her death bed. It was also challenging to move back to Chicago after I had been gone for three years. My mother had to work when she got here, so I had to take care of my grandmother, as far as, cleaning, feeding, and clothing her.
I remember the hospital had a very foul smell because someone on that floor had died earlier that day. I remember seeing my grandmother, who was always very light-skinned at first, in the hospital bed very dark, because of her liver problems. She had tubes going through her nose, mouth, and arms. They were feeding, breathing, and IV tubes.
When we moved we had to sacrifice a lot of things. I lost contact with my friend in Indiana, where I was living. We also had to sell our house. I lost that whole summer because I was taking care of my grandmother.
I also gained lots of things. I learned how to be responsible. I also have new friends at my new school. I now have a sense of hope and faith for future encounters. My grandmother is now at home and in good condition, and the fact that I was at home helping her had something to do with it.
I didn’t have a mentor, but if I did I would want her to be caring and responsible. She would be able to endure anything that comes her way. She would walk with confidence. She would believe in God and have lots of faith. She would also be good with problem solving. Liars and laziness would annoy her. She is a good leader because she makes good decisions, and follows through with them.
The main challenge I had was watching my grandmother in the state she was in. I hated seeing her like that. I also faced a challenge by moving to Chicago and leaving the life I had built in Indiana. I had to make a whole new life. I knew I wanted my grandmother to get past this, and I knew my grandmother could get past this. I learned to preserve and cope with what life gives me, because in time all things will past.
