My Grandm My Grandmother

You never truly know how much someone means to you until they are gone. All of the hot summer days spent at her house, the home cooked meals for lunch, the daily routine of watching game shows on GSN, the hours and hours of playing monopoly, and working the concession stand at Evans Park for the summer are now just cherished memories that I have with my grandma.

Many of us take people in our lives for granted and don’t realize how important

By my mom and two of her sisters, my grandfather is called dad, but my Aunt Marcia addresses him as Jack Bronder. My maternal grandfather passed away before I was born, but that is not to say his life does not hold a standing presence in my family today, especially for my Aunt Marcia. The man that I imagine as my grandfather is created only by stories passed down to me, but the story that stands out to me the most is the one told by my Aunt Marcia.

Since birth the one person that was always by my side except for my family was my Grandma. Once my parents needed to go back to work she was there everyday to watch over me. She took me with her every where she went and was proud to show me off and that she had such a wonderful grandson. My Grandma was around for all of my “firsts” that

My grandma is my mother’s mother, of course is has to be a part in my life because of how close they are. To have someone like her in my life is a blessing. I was always taught by her to be focused on myself, speak up when I something is bothering me, help others, respect others, and be grateful. I have had my grandmother part of my life for about since the day I was born, there is not a day that I go without seeing her. The days that I do not see her is hard because of how close I am to her than with my own mother. There is times I think my grandmother is more of a mother to me than my actual mother is, perhaps even an angel sent to me because she truly is someone who I can go to and I know she’ll protect me and help me when I need it most.

I know that sounds harsh, but my mom and I are and have always been extremely close. At the time she was living in Bryan-College Station and working for Texas A&M. She would come down a couple times a year to spend time with us and we would take a whole day and go shopping, or I would take her to a quaint little town to explore their downtown. On the way to where ever we were going, we would talk about every subject under the sun. There were times when we were so engrossed in our conversations that we would wind up getting lost. Mom is a great listener and a wonderful grandma. I want to be a grandma

Saturday mornings was our time or more like my time to debrief. The trees hovered over us, along with the identical apartment buildings across the street. Children played games on the sidewalk without a care in the world. Music played out loud from a neighbor’s window, and an ambulance wailed in the distance. Men strolled around, and cigarette aroma filled the air. There, outside of her apartment complex, on the concrete steps we talked. Talking to my grandma was my safe place where I could speak freely. She would make things make it easier with her advice or sometimes just listen. Although she couldn’t relate to many of my issues, she never failed at giving the best advice.

My great grandma was the my mother’s mother figure, since my mom is an irish twin her mother couldn't take care of her. So my mom was sent to live with my great grandma. My great grandma had thought of my mom as her own daughter and my mom loved her as her own mother. My great grandma had many grandchildren and loved them all, but she had always loved my mom the most.Ever since I was younger my great grandma would come and visit my family. When she would come she would shower my siblings and I with gifts. She always had gotten us exactly what we had wanted. She was the sweetest person to everyone around her. She would also get my cousins from my dad’s side gifts. She had treated them like her own children.

My grandma is the oldest out of the five children my great grandparents had. She married Bill Gilstrap and they had two children; my uncle and then my mother. My grandparents were married seven years before they decided to get a divorce. After their divorce, my grandma was set on raising her two children.

Growing up was not such an easy task for me. There came a time where I needed support far more than any one person could provide, except for one. She is exceptional she was my rock, she held my world together she is my Grandmother. My Grandmother is not just my Grandmother; she is also my friend, my provider, and my savior because without her I would have more than likely taken a very wrong path in life.

A moment can be such a small amount of time but it can effect such a large part of your life. I was always very close to my grandma. My mom would always tell me that I would often times not want her when I was upset and I would only want my grandma. She had lived just a few minutes down the road from us. She was always there for me and I was always there for her. I would never call her grandma. I always called her “Mawmaw”. I had no clue what I would do without her. She meant so much to me. We would go out to eat together all of the time and we would also hang out at her house a lot.

My grandma was so many things. I have many great memories of her. I see moments in time, snapshots in my memory of all the great times we spent together.

I grew up with my grandmother in the small town of Turner, Maine. My mother, Jana-lin, sent me there from Salt Lake City, Utah to escape my abusive stepfather. At the age of six I traveled alone across the country, with one layover, to try and find a better life. All of this happened during the thanksgiving and Christmas of 1996. But being torn from an older sister, a younger brother, and your mother. Us kids were separated, my older sister Brittney, ending up in Las Vegas, Nevada with her father. My little brother Richard, with his father out in Salt Lake City, Utah and Me, with my grandmother in Maine. My father Andreas, abandoned my mother when he learned she was pregnant, going so far as to try and pay her to get an abortion. Lucky for

My grandpa couldn't have been a better man, and I couldn't imagine my life I live today if he wasn't apart of it. Ever since I was little I was very close with my grandpa, when I was just old enough to walk I would follow him everywhere. For example when I was about two I ran outside to find him shoveling dirt, I ran straight behind him and when he swung the shovel back I got hit in the head, to this day I still have a scar right by my eye. It may seem as if that were a bad moment but looking at it now it's a funny memory I will keep with me forever.

As a child, my grandma was one of the best in the world to me. I always wonder how an elderly can be filled with so much life. The type of woman who was always on the move. Growing up I spend most of my time at my grandma 's house, not because my mom didn’t want to watch me, my grandma just loved having us around. Even with more than eight kids in her house, she still wanted us around. She wasn’t very old, nor did she looked old, everyone always thought she was my mom older sister. Being a wife, mom, and grandma just seem to be her favorite thing to be. She own about five boutiques and still manage to raise her brother’s children.