Body Keeney's Autobiography

My maternal aunt gathered us together and we all sat on the couch. She turned to my mother and told us she had cancer. I looked at my aunt and I did not know what to say or how to respond. Three months later, my father received a phone call from his sister telling him that my pregnant cousin, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with leukemia and had to give birth to her premature baby. She and I grew up in the same house in Arizona and what hurt me the most was not being able to be with her during this difficult time. When we went to visit her in Arizona, my dad told us before entering the hospital room that he did not want us to cry in front of her. I was scared to enter. I did not know what to say to her but I knew I had to be strong. We stayed there for the holiday season but we never celebrated the holidays, that was too

An ambulance came and carried out my mom. I didn’t know what was going on, so many questions running through my mind, what was wrong with her, was she going to be ok. I was scared, more scared then I had ever been. My sister Sheridan who was 8 asked me “what’s happening?” through tears. On that day a little piece of me began to change because if I let her see my fear that would not help anyone, and so even though I didn’t know what was happening I responded “everything is going to be ok” even though I did not trust my own words.

Most people have a story about how their parents decided on their name, especially those of us who have less common ones. Mine is fairly dry; my parents looked through a book of names and decided that “Maizie” was charming and sweet and would fit me well. My sister’s story, however, is slightly more intriguing. Cleo Arden Seidl, born on August 3rd of 2001, was named by me, Maizie Regan Seidl, when I was just two years and nine months old.

It was the day after my sister's Quinceanera, and all my family was here. They were leaving back to their homes Monday morning, so keep in mind it is Sunday. All of our parents were talking outside and saw that us kids didn’t really have anything to do, so they decide to take us to a river that was 5 minutes away from my aunt's ranch. We packed up all our food and stuff and went right away.

When I was 7 years old I attended a funeral for my great grandfather. He was 105, and had lived a full life. I wasn’t very close to him but seeing him in the casket was so odd and he looked like an alien. I was a curious child so I stood in front of the casket just observing the body and glancing around at the sadness that this room was filled with. My uncle joined me and asked me if I had said spoken to my great grandfather. I just looked up at him and said “No, he is dead”, since I was pretty certain dead people didn’t talk anymore. Well, he proceeded to tell me that if I asked him a question, my great grandfather would indeed respond. I didn’t ask since I was already scared at this point. My uncle did for me, he asked, “Grandpa, if you

My grandma Linda was her only daughter. I spent weeks at Ma’s house in Holstein, Iowa. Christmas for the Grell’s was always hosted at Ma’s house. When I was young she would take me swimming at the communities pool, and ice cream afterwards. Ma’ was an expert cook, her favorite summer dish was fried chicken. She was nearly famous for that fried chicken. In September of 2012 Doctors discovered a tumor in Ma’s liver. Ma’s children paid for an assisted living home in Sioux City, Iowa. She pasted away March 21, 2013. Leading up to March the relationship between my mother and her parents decrepitated. My grandparents refused to come to my high school graduation.

My family woke up the next morning at 4:00am to head straight to Walt Disney World. We all put on our matching blue tie-dyed Mickey Mouse shirts and piled in the cars. Once we were all in the cars we were happy, happy, very happy. Then my Papa gets a call. “We are sorry Sir. You’re mom has passed away. She passed away very peacefully.” Though my family was expecting it, this trip suddenly took a sad turn. Everyone in the car started crying.

The following months a winter, cold and gloomy, surrounded the house. My grandmother came to stay with us since my father had fallen into depression and needed help taking care of my sister and I. When my grandmother went grocery shopping my sister would struggle with homework without my grandmother’s help. One day when my grandmother left to go grocery shopping my sister approached me, which was unusual of her since its very rare for her to come to me. Her dark brown hair and big eyes reminded me of my self when I was younger. “I’m hungry” she complained, a question she’s never asked me. My father sleeping and my grandmother away, I was the only one left to take care of her and that terrified me. I had never cared for or known how to care for someone else. All I knew was how to evaluate whether or not someone was caring for another correctly.

My mom kept saying "I have got to go see Fran. I need to see with my brother" My mom ran down stairs to get ready to go, I followed her and just stood there, still paralyzed. She hugged me and said that she loved me. I had never seen my mom so panicked. She went into the bathroom to take a shower and I could still hear her sobbing through the door. I was all by myself, now. I was standing in the middle of the family room as the words "He is dead" pierced my heart like daggers of ice. I was screaming OH, GOD NO, and started to cry uncontrollably. The realization that I would never see my uncle again struck me. After I got myself under control I went and packed my things to leave with my mother. As soon as we were done we were on the next flight to New Jersey.

I had just finished my basketball practice. I was feeling ecstatic because I was making baskets left and right like Kobe Bryant. My coach even told me that he has never seen me play like that before. Then I strutted outside and found my father parked outside the school in his large, brown pick-up truck. I hopped inside and turned my seat heater to high because it was frigid, winter weather outside. My dad made some casual small talk, then he gave me the news. He stated in a low, dull voice, “Hey Jack, grandma past away today.”

I clearly remember the day I found out about my granddad's passing. I was at school. It was a normal, joyful day. My dad was planning on picking me up, but instead my friend's mom picked me up. He would not tell me why, but I did not think much of it. I remember the car ride to my house. My friend's mom would not tell me why she was driving me home; all she told me was, "Just know, Ryan, that we will be here for you no matter

The day I found out that my grandmother had passed away was the saddest day of my life. I remember waking up that day in a wonderful mood. I was starting my last semester of high school and I was excited to go and see my friends, but I had no idea what was happening at the hospital my grandma was staying at. There was a point during the day where I got an uneasy feeling in my stomach, but I just ignored it, thinking I was just hungry. On my way home from volleyball practice that day, I passed the street my grandparents lived on and saw that both my mom’s, dad’s, and my uncle’s car was at their house. Starting to feel concerned and worried, I thought about turning my car around to figure out what was going on, but I decided to leave it alone and wait until my parents returned home. That night when I got out of the shower, my parents told me that my grandma had passed away. It came as such a shock to me because I saw her just two days before, and she seemed like she was doing better.

October 10th, 2013 at 7:30pm. The day of my grandma death. The day that changed my life forever. The day I will never forget. My grandma was my everything, she was the lady who raised me since I was born. I never had a mother or father, the only person who cared for me was my grandma. The day my grandma died I was in my senior year of high school and I had just came home from cheerleading practice. That was an unusual day for me because when I woke up that morning my grandma wasn't up cooking breakfast like she usually does she was in her bed asleep still. I looked outside and the sun was just rising. I went in her room that morning before I left for school and said these exact words, "Good morning grandma if you’re not feeling well, I could stay home with you and take you to the doctor." In a raspy low voice my grandma replied, "Good morning sweetie I'm okay I was just feeling a little sick this morning but I'm better now. You better get to school now before you are late.” Okay, Grandma Love you, call me if you need me", I replied. On my way to school all I thought about was why my grandma sounded like that this morning and how she wasn't up doing her normal routine. I have never seen my grandma get sick before. She was always the one taking care of me making sure I was okay. But I just pushed the feeling over just thinking my grandma was okay and I was just overthinking. I should've stayed home that day. I should've noticed that my grandma really was sick.

I was born in Columbus I was left in the hospital after being born by my mother, my grandparents took me home and I lived there for 7 years. One of my brothers named Mason was also living there because my mother didn’t want him, a like all of her kids except my little sister. My grandpa was sick and he was in and out of the hospital, he apparently had cancer but he never wanted to go the doctor to take care of it. One night when he could come home from the hospital I slept with him and when I woke up he was dead. That day was one of the worst days of my life, along with my grandma. My grandma was broken it seemed and a year or two later she became sick as well. She had to be put permanently in a nursing home and then I had to live with my birth mother, her boyfriend and my little sister Elizabeth. I lived there for about 2 months and then my aunt picked me up from school and filed for temporary custody. My aunt and uncle, i’ve been living with had to keep going to court because my birth mom kept filing for custody, she originally never had custody of me, my grandma always did. Since my birth mom would have to get her house checked and take parent classes she didn’t go through with filing for custody. The reason she didn’t go through with it is that she does drugs and her boyfriend sells the drugs for money because neither of them had a job. My grandma was the one to tell my aunt to file for custody for me. My grandma didn’t want me living in such a home. During those two

At the age of twelve, when my aunt died, my life was like an alarm clock. My aunt and I were fairly close. We used to walk around together often and talk about almost anything. At times I may have prefered her over my mother. She got me into my obsession of sports. She was there when I scored my first