Let me tell you now, my life hasn’t been the greatest but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to make the best out of it. These setbacks are not something that is going to hold me back, it is going to push me forward.
I’ve lived with my grandparents turned guardians since I was six years old. My mom and dad both passed away in a car accident on their way home from a “parents weekend” with another couple. I didn’t understand why suddenly I had an extended weekend away at Grandma’s. I didn't understand why my older sister was moving in with her biological dad.
Life with my grandparents wasn’t always simple. It wasn’t being spoiled with their love or special treats anymore. It was an adjustment on both mine and my grandparents part. I wanted to have my grandpa back where it was okay to do silly things with or get to bake cookies with Grandma. It was taking care of me, making sure not only everything I needed was met, but my little brother as well.
There are parts of my childhood where I wished that I didn’t live with my grandparents, that I wanted to be able to have my mom and dad there, but my grandparents did the best that they could. I do regret now ever feeling like that, but I knew that it was normal for someone who'd been through what I did to feel like that. They knew too, that they could never truly be my mom and dad, that they could never replace them, but told us stories about them constantly, reminding my brother and I that our parents loved us very much.
As I look back now, as a college student who moved 900 miles away from home, I've realized how much my grandparents really did for my brother and me. They taught us to be the mature, independent people of society. They taught us to be respectful and caring. How to deal with daily things. My grandpa has taught me about cars, loans, baseball, and credit. He taught me how to be financially stable, how to live on just me.
I won’t be able to ever fully thank my grandparents for the endless and tiresome hours they put into raising my brother and me. They dropped everything to be the amazing caretakers that they were and still are. They pushed my brother and I both academically and in sports. Baseball and softball were in our lives. My grandpa reminding me that everything I do will help me be better academically. Sitting countless hours with me at our kitchen table writing out my letters because I wrote them too fast or not legible.
I know how to cook and clean, the basic needs of living on your own by my grandma. I learned to be self-aware and that I could always count on myself no matter what. She helped me go through puberty even though she hadn’t had any experience since my mom was my age. She taught me to be me. To be independent. To know basic life hacks from getting a stain out to getting rid of the burnt side of a cake.
Living with grandparents isn’t always what it seems to be, especially since I’ve lived with mine for the past 12 years. I’ve had to help teach my grandpa how to send a text message and learned patience, you might have to tell them something more than once.
I am so very grateful for what they’ve done for me. I wouldn’t be the person I am now if it wasn’t for them. To my grandpa, and my grandma, and Doris who has recently come into my life to be a step in grandma, I thank you. Thank you for pushing me to go to college, pushing me to be independent, and thank you, for letting me grow on my own with a hand always outstretched in case I needed it.
Thank you.