Life is full of many experiences. Everyone has different ones, some good and some bad. But each person is given these experiences to make them who they were meant to be. There have been many events in my life that have shaped me to become who I am right now. One of the most life changing events in my life was when my grandpa died.

It happened last year during the musical at school. I knew he had been in bad shape over the summer and was in and out of the hospital for many months. It had become normal to go visit “BoBo” in the hospital every so often and take my grandma out to eat. I never expected it to happen so suddenly. He died on a Thursday in the early evening in his sleep. The only reason I can remember this is because I didn’t find out he was dead until the Saturday after my first performance at school. That Thursday my whole family showed up including my grandma. They acted as it everything was alright and no one mentioned BoBo dying. That Saturday I woke up late because I was exhausted for the performance the night before and was lying in bed. Both my parents come into my room and tell to shut the TV off. As I laid there my mom told me that BoBo had died last Thursday but she didn’t want to say anything so it wouldn’t affect me during school or the musical. I cried hard and so did my brother. After the musical was over we had his funeral. My cousins from GA had flown down to see him and to take care of all the funeral arrangements. My grandpa was cremated so as I walked into the room I saw his urn sitting on a stole. I tried my hardest to not cry before the funeral even started but I did. I had to leave the room before the funeral and cry. As I sat in the big red chair they had my cousin came out there and just sat with me. He is a year younger then me and was having just as a hard time as me. We didn’t do the whole service but just a memorial. As I sat there between my two cousins my grandpa’s brother gets up to speak. As he sits there and talks about all of us “kids” that my grandpa loved so much he told me that my grandpa wanted more then anything to come to one more performance of mine. At that moment an eggy taste was in my mouth and I thought I was going to lose it. Finally, the funeral was over and everyone left. That night me and my cousin talked and did things together. This was the first grandparent for both of us to loose. We saw each others pain and knew exactly how the other one felt. With my grandpa dying it brought me and my cousin closer then ever.

Now today he is my best friend. Even if he lives five states away I know I can call him and he be right there to help me. We go on vacation together now every summer and have so much fun. I think by having him in my life I know I can have someone to lean on no matter what and someone who loves me no matter what.