When I was about five, I can remember my mom, my brother and I would always drive to my Grandparents  house in our yellow Caliber. On the ride there, we’d be singing songs at the top of our lungs cheerfully and having a good old time. When we got to their house, my Grandma (Magra) always greeted my brother and I at the door with a warm hug that felt like sunshine. She also greeted us with a Root Beer and a Moon pie. I was always delighted to go to their house,  there were so many things to do.

My Magra was the one who taught me how to do the dishes by hand, how to make many foods, and lots of other things. While we did that, we’d [missing word] dancing and singing around the house like there was no tomorrow. My Grandparents were in a Harmonica Band; every year we got to go to Hickory Corners and watch them in the Memorial Day parade play their hearts out. They also belonged to different clubs around the town like the Masons and Eagles. I remember every year around the [possessive error] holiday’s, my Grandma would always make her famous food; [punctuation error] which tasted out of this world.

Everybody was so happy then,[comma splice]  time moved so fast but yet so slow. My Mom and my Dad worked a lot so my brother and I would always be at my Grandparents house. One day though, my parents found out my Magra had some kind of Brain Cancer. At the time I wasn’t really sure what to feel, [comma splice] I didn’t even know what brain cancer was. I would always say, “What’s wrong with Magra mommy?” She would always vaguely tell me, she didn’t want my brother and I to worry about it. I could see it in everyone's faces though, something just wasn’t right. I knew my Magra and she wasn’t acting normal.

About six months later, I definitely knew what happened! Billions and billions of people came to my [possessive error] Magras funeral and mourned the loss. I sang her favorite song, “The Long Black Train by Josh Turner”, as she had asked me to do. After that day though, nothing was the same. Everybody looked as if life was just taken out of them. My Papa wasn’t the same man he used to be. My Mom didn’t take us over to their house as much as she used to either. There were no more reunions or holiday parties; everyone just kept to themselves after that. Some of my Aunts even moved out of the state.

To this day I miss my Magra a lot. Life has definitely changed. It’s kind of bittersweet that she’s gone; she was in a lot of pain and I don’t want her to be, but I miss her deeply and wish things were back to normal. I want to be able to go to my Grandparents house and spend the night like a normal kid, I want to be able to have my Aunts live closer and have holiday parties and reunions like we used to. Sometimes I wonder if this quote is actually true-

“When you died, a part of me died with you.”

It’s a sad quote but it matches my family. They were all happy people living life but after she went to heaven, it’s like a part of them went with her.