My grandfather
All my family knew that my grandpa Al was getting older and couldn't do as much. Over the next few weeks, he sounded like he was getting sick. He was getting slower. But because he is as stubborn as they come, he never tried to stop working. This all concluded with a life changing moment. Youth had eluded my grandfather for some time now, but something is different this time. As he worked over the next week, doing his normal housekeeping and working on the motorcycles, he was struggling in his efforts. He knew, so did we, that he was getting older. He could not do work for as long, lifting heavy things was more difficult, etc… He was getting redder and getting more impatient. He would, however, let out a sigh of relief when he sat down after walking into the house.
Sooner or later, he started to stall. Thanks to my grandma, he stayed off his feet. Our family here had to drive out to Arizona where they live. Me and my sisters stayed at the hotel in the day while my parents had to drive to their house. They would keep us updated on the situation while we watched tv in the hotel room.
“He hasn't changed any.” my mom sighed
“Alright.”
Over the next few days the cycle of them getting up in the morning and leaving to my grandparents house, coming back to the hotel kept repeating. Ultimately, we left Arizona and came back to Kansas. We went home, got a good night’s sleep. It didn’t seem like it was a big deal to me and my little sister. The only thing me and
When you think of losing a grandparent in your life, you think of them passing away. You dread the day you will get the call that they are sick. You then begin to cherish all the moments you have with them leading up to their passing. You have time to except their sickness, and come to terms with the outcome that is to come. My PopPop is not here anymore, but do not get confused, for he is alive. I did not have warning. I did not have time to cherish him. I did not have time to say goodbye. My PopPop was on no medication, which was almost uncanny for a 75-year-old. Trying to encompass everything he was boils down to a few things that may not seem like much to someone who didn’t know him. He went on a walk every night after dinner, and would whistle the same tune when he was happy. He played the same little ditty on the piano every time we were all in the living room. He was a simple man who could not harm a fly, and a good man. Unlike the grandchild warned when they are going to lose a grandparent, I did not have this notice. I did not have time to go on one last walk with him, and I did not have time to record him on the piano. I did not have time to replicate his whistling song, or to spend time with the man I knew. My PopPop was the heathiest man I knew, but then he got depression. First slowly, then all at once. The man I knew had slipped from my fingers without any chance to hold on tighter.
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”. I chose to shadow my grandfather because I do not know all that much about him. My grandpa has always seemed like a very interesting person but he does not open up easily. That is another reason i chose to shadow him. My grandpa is usually toiling with a black powder rifle or he is making his own guns or doing research on a weapon unknown to him.
My Great Grandpa was someone I always looked up to. He was someone I loved to spend time with. I always just thought he would be here forever, so I never even thought about never seeing him again. In my opinion my Great Grandpa’s death was a time I had act strong even though I wasn't. He was someone I talked to when I wasn't feeling myself. My Great Grandpa's death was one of the hardest experiences I've ever had to deal with.
One day I was on my way home from basketball. My dad had told me that my mom had taken my grandpa to the hospital. She had taken him because he was having bad stomach problems. No one really thought a thing big of it.
There have been countless influential people in my life that I’ve come across. One who was a meticulous inspiration continues to be my grandfather. My grandmother had remarried to the one I call “grandpa” when I was at the age of five, and they both took to each other’s grandchildren as their own. With my mother and me only living a mile down the road from their farmhouse out in the country, I’d spent heaps amount of time there as a child. Indeed, I had been without a father but my grandfather stepped up to the plate and had taken me under his wing and willingly played the personification of a father figure.
My grandpa lived a long prosperous life up until the last couple months of his life. One evening we were out and about heading to dinner with my parents and grandparents. We all sat down, ordered our food, and my grandpa was telling a story about his truck driving days. During his story we realized that the left side of his face wasn't matching the facial expressions on the right side. My mom was extremely worried, so we rushed to the nearest hospital. Hours of waiting in the lobby they came out and told us that he had a pretty bad stroke. The doctors told us our options; they stressed that surgery would be the best option. This surgery consisted of drilling into his skull to release the pressure in this brain. My grandpa made it out of surgery
In October 2010 my grandma was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is a progressive disease the destroys memory and mental functions. This life changing experience has taught my family courage, forgiveness, strength, and so much more.
Our alarm clocks buzzed to life early that morning, prompting us to slog our way to the airport. We departed out of Raleigh, had a layover in Denver, then flew to Palm Springs. Everything seemed to be going to plan. We met up with my Grandma from my dad’s side of the family at the airport, then picked up our rental car and drove to our VRBO rental house which
(I was re-reading and noticed i didnt put age anywhere im 16.) Alright well I'm not sure why I'm on reddit venting this dosen't really feel like the place, but on Sunday morning my grandpa died. Here's the story on Friday night I was going to go to a football game but some weird surcomstances allined and I ended up not going I was in my room playing CS GO and my mom came in the room and said that my Grandpa collapsed and was being taken to the hospital and they thought he had a heart attack, but that wasnt the case. My mom and I got to the hospital and where sitting around fro a while then my sister showed up a while after. There was a lot of sitting and wondering then I was told I could go into the room I followed behind my sister she looked him in the eyes and said I love you he said I love you
American society is a complex and growing muscle, one that changes every couple of years, if one looks at society as a whole the only potential way of understanding society is by observing characteristics of an individual’s biography and history. My grandfather, Edwin Richard Constant was brought into American society being born in the District of Columbia, in 1943. At the time of his birth, World War II had just ended and my grandfather had moved back into the NY area where he was brought up in his grandfather’s house on the east side of Brooklyn along with his mother, father, and brother. Having little memory of his surrounding environment, my grandfather had little to say about growing up in Brooklyn. Though a critical aspect of his childhood which would later affect him in sever ways was being plagued by the lost of his brother. Towards the end of World War II, his oldest brother who served as a U.S Navy Medical Corpsman, was killed on the island of Okinawa while being assigned to a fleet of Marine forces. Unlike today’s society much of society at that time held strong ties to the catholic or Christian religion which resulted in my grandfather being raised religious. Every Sunday, my grandfather was brought to the local Episcopal Church trinity in Brooklyn resulting in the development of having an interest in the church’s sense of community later becoming an acolyte, singing for the church as a choir boy. At the time, my grandfather’s prominence in the religious
I have an abundance of grotesque, yet, barely visible memories of childhood. However, no breathtaking family trips, no unique family togetherness that taught a moral lesson, no abnormal holidays. We still ate family meals together, but most often the children and adults lived in different worlds. When I needed comforting or wanted the best of both worlds, I could turn to my Grandpa.
For many people, Grandpa is a storyteller, someone to go fishing with, and someone who has your back no matter what. The experience I had with my grandpa was a little different. I never got the opportunity to meet my great-grandfather Liston Grider, but he still somehow managed to have a huge impact on my life. Sometimes my mom would tell stories about him; happy memories from her childhood, sad ones that were painful for her to tell, and everything in between. I thought I had heard it all, but this past summer I learned something about my great grandpa that would perhaps impact my life forever. This story was not told by my mom like usual, but by someone who was a complete stranger to me. The lessons I learned would not be taught in a single day, but over the span of a month through a series of Facebook messages and letters in the mail. The words I read upon opening those messages and letters would change my life forever, permanently transform my beliefs, and show me what it truly means to be an American.
I think the person who has had the most profound effect on my life besides my parents is my grandfather. I never realized before how much of an effect he had on my interests and goals for the future. Years ago, he used to tell me stories about historical events and experiences he had fighting in Vietnam and my great grandfather fighting in World War 2. His vivid descriptions always made it so interesting and, in some cases, more light-hearted than what actually happened. To this day he still has more stories to tell me, and never fails to captivate my interest. In doing this, he opened my eyes to my biggest interest, history, and encouraged me to pursue this interest throughout school. I feel like it would help to give a short summary of his life and how it affected me.
When we were together we were invincible, us against the world. I’d look up to him, not only because he was 6’4, but because he was my grandpa. I have clear memories of him picking me up from school, playing old school reggae music during our adventurous car rides. We’d always sing along to our favorites, sometimes turn the music up so loud the people in the cars next to us could hear it. When I would visit his apartment, the familiar smell of drywall and pennies would fill the air. It was my hideaway, my home away from home. My grandpa collected pennies in water jugs. He would say that one day they’d be worth more than just pennies. I loved it there, not only because he had a freezer filled with many flavors of ice cream to which he would often say to me “you can have all you can eat” but because it was our time to bond. For five years it was my mom, my dad, and my grandpa helping me to grow. Those are my favorite people, my role models. Being around my grandpa brought me such comfort and joy.
“I can’t believe that’s true!” I exclaimed, my laughter echoing through the room. My grandpa and I had been chatting on the phone for the past half an hour. You would imagine a man his age would be boring and dull. However, he was quite the joker. At least with me, since I was, of course, his favorite granddaughter.