I’ll never forget that warm spring day that turned so cold. It was the day I would remember for the rest of my life but would always want to forget. I was sitting in school when I got called down to the office and they said my mom had come to get me. When I was walking to the car I was thinking to myself, “I wonder what this is all about.” That’s when I saw my mom in the car bawling and I knew the rest of the day was going to be amazingly hard. I took my seat in the car and we drove off.

“What’s going on?” I ask my mom softly.
“It’s Grandpa Andy,” she said. “They think today might be his last day.”

After hearing those words, I lost all control and my body and I just collapsed into my seat. My emotions overcame me faster than a cheetah takes down its prey. Now that I knew why I got out of school, I realized that this might be the hardest day of my life. My grandpa was my best friend. He was my rock. And now he was on his deathbed.

My Great-Grandpa Andy was an amazing man. He lived his life not for himself, but for others. He went to church every Sunday and always prayed  before every meal. His life was very charitable. He had a good amount of money, but he never showed it. You would’ve just thought he was another senior citizen living his life. He would always go the extra mile to make someone feel happy. No matter what kind of mood you were in, he always either cheered you up or just made you laugh even harder. He was truly a great man and a great role model as well.

We got to Diamond Willow, the assisted living place where he lived, and I don’t know how I did it but I stepped out of the car and walked into the building. When I walked in the door I could almost feel the heaviness in the air. My pastor walked out of my grandpa’s room and that’s when I knew that it was not going to be a good sight when I saw him.

I turned the corner into the doorway and saw him laying in bed. He was sick, but he had never looked as bad as he did that day. He saw me walk into the room and waved me over to his bedside. As I walked over I could hear him struggling to breathe*, so I began to tear up. When I got next to his bed, he tried to tell me something.

“What was that, Grandpa?” I asked, trying to hold back tears.

“I love you Riley. Don’t cry,” he said, ”I’m going to a better place and I’ll always be watching over you.”
 

“I love you too, Grandpa.” I said as my emotions took over, completely breaking down while hugging him.
I gave him a final hug and went and sat down on the couch waiting for the inevitable to happen. As I sat on the couch, I finally calmed myself down enough to stop crying. I listened to his every breath as if it were his last. And that’s when there was not another breath to be heard. The room turned from daylight to pitch black. Gusts of icy wind hit my skin in the airtight room, and then I was lost in a pool of emotion.

My best friend in the entire world had just taken his last breath, and now was in the hands of the Lord.

Now I had truly lost all control. All of my emotions had flown out at the same time. I sat on the couch in his room bawling like a parent who has just lost a child, uncontrollably. My family came over and tried to comfort me, but all of the pain in the world was swelling inside of me. I felt everything inside of me crumble*. A large piece of me had just been torn out of me and ripped to shreds.

As I walked back to the car, the taste of death bitter on the tongue, I was lost. I didn’t know how to deal with what just happened. The air felt so cold even though it was shorts and t-shirt weather. My mom and I got into the car and drove home, so I wouldn’t have to watch them move his lifeless body.

When we got home, I sat down on the couch, motionless and hopeless. That’s when I started thinking that my grandpa was in a better place now. He even told me that that’s where he was going. I finally had accepted that he was gone and I got back up and went to talk to my mom.

My grandpa was the most amazing man I had ever met in my life. He was always giving back to the community and helping others. He was my biggest role model. The world would be a much better place if everyone lived like he did. And on March 22, 2012 he stepped into the embrace of the Lord and became one heck of an angel. I’m sure he kept his promise and is still watching over me today.