Dear Grandma Maxine,
My name is Darcy Maxine, and I am the youngest child of your daughter Kathi. She has missed you every day for the last 39 years and I miss you too, even though I never got the chance to meet you. My mom tells me all the time how much I'm like you, which always makes her cry. You are so important to her, and I wish I had had the chance to meet you at some point because I feel like we would get along very well.
Five years ago my mother was diagnosed with colon cancer, which scared us all, especially knowing the family history. She didn't want it to take her away from her family; she was afraid that what happened when your cancer took you would happen to us, and she didn't want that. She remembers what it was like to go through high school and college after the death of a parent and didn't want us to have to live without her. We rely on her for so much and she is the most amazing woman, I know that you would be proud of her. Thanks to the technology and developing cancer treatments of the 21st century we didn't lose her and she was able to get back to being our mother who we love so much, just like how she loves you so much.
I watch my mom remember you all the time; she thinks about what she would have missed if the cancer had taken her away from us. She wishes you could have been there to see her graduation, her wedding, the births of me and my brother, our graduations, all of our shows and concerts. She became a nurse because she realized while you were sick that she liked taking care of people, and she is very good at what she does. She cries at all of my performances now because she is so happy she can still see them and because she is so upset that you have missed so much.
She didn't know when she named me that I would turn out to be her spitting image, but so much like you personality-wise. I wish every day that you were still here. I love my name because it reminds me so much of where I have come from, and I choose to go by my full name because I feel like it is disrespectful to your memory if I didn't. I know that none of us ever want to forget you, and I intend to honor you and your life as long as I can. Losing a loved one isn't easy, and loving a relative I've never met seems strange, but your memory lives on in your children and grandchildren. We wish you could be here with us, but the lessons we have learned from remembering you are some of the most important things I have ever been taught. We love you so much, and know that you are our guardian angel and have always been.
With love,
Your youngest grandchild, Darcy Maxine
