"Nina, He Passed Away This Morning."

Those were the words I woke up to on May 26th, 2009.

My Grandpa passed away.

At first I didn't cry because I didn't think It was real. I left the room I was sleeping in to see him lying there on the hospital bed not making any sound. I didn't know what to do. I was scared and devastated. For the first time in my life, I lost something so dear to me. He passed away due to Diabetes. He was such an absolutely incredible person when he lived. He had a really big sense of humor and was always so happy all the time. He'd give me and my sisters little nicknames all the time and we would always just laugh for no apparent reason when we were around him. I love him so much.

Then his funeral was held. Worst. Day. Ever. It was so depressing. We would pray for him and I would just see my grandma cry and cry, I really didn't like seeing all these people so sad. In the background there was a TV playing pictures my grandpa and our family. I remember seeing him so absolutely delighted in the pictures when alot of family was over. I would always cry when I saw that. He was so happy.

Then the end of the funeral came, the worst part. He was burned. I never could've imagined it would be like that in my absolute worst nightmares. There was this really big metal box. The man asked someone to push the button to open it. He asked another to start the flames. When they started pushing his coffin in, It really hit me. I covered my mouth in terror saying "Oh My God, Oh My God." Over and over again. I burst into tears, along with everyone else in the room. I looked back at my grandma. She was she was absolutely devastated into despair. I felt so bad for he. She was crying so hard I went over to hold onto her for the rest of the time.

When it was over, and everyone left, me and my sisters and my cousins went back to the room. We found that only one person was still in it staring at the metal box my grandpa was in. He was my cousin Korben. He was only 7 years old. He was always such a quiet, deep thinking boy. He stared at the metal box in silent disbelief. At the sight of us, he got out of the room and went to his mom. He was crying. He very rarely does that.

About two weeks later.....
I remember my grandpa always loved the lottery and scratch tickets and he would always tell me when I was a little girl "I'll get you that when I win the lottery." And he would smile. Well that day he got a piece of mail, which was oddly a scratch ticket to win a car. My dad and sister decided to scratch it off after a while of thinking if they should or not. My grandpa ended up winning the car.



I so terribly miss and love you Grandpa, rest in great peace.

This is his hat. It now hangs on the wall of my dad's house.