When we head off to college after high school and learn to do many different things on our own from making doctors appointments to making sure the college bill is paid to calling home, we often only contact those who we lived with, whether that be mothers and fathers of siblings too. One phone call we usually forgot to make after we leave the nest is the phone call to our grandparents. So many times we have taken our grandparents for granted and we never fully realize that we do until it is too late and we can no longer tell them how much we appreciate all they do for us. Here, I want to say thank you to my Aba, who has been just as much a mother to me as my biological mother.
Things could have been so different had we continued living in North Carolina or California. I would not have had the opportunity to see you every day or whenever I wanted to. There would have been plenty of phone calls or pictures sent from across the country, but it would not have been the same. There would have been less summer spent at your house where you watched us every day while mom was at work. Although I miss Papa greatly, I am glad his health brought us back to New York and granted me with the opportunity to spend as much time as I want with you.
So many times you have been there for us. From giving us rides home from school and taking us to practice, to being a summer camp over the summer and taking us to the zoo or park. I could not have imagined a swim meet without you sitting on deck cheering me and congratulating me no matter what, good or bad. I am convinced by now that there has been no person to sit in the bleachers as much as you have all these years. Aba, I would not have had all the opportunities I have been given without you around. You have also made sure there was food on the table and that we got to see parts of the world that are unimaginable to most.
So here's to you, as I sit in a college dorm trying to figure out where my life is taking me I wanted to thank you. Thank you for all that you have done and being an absolutely amazing human inside and out. I am thankful for all the years I have been granted to have you in my life and hope you can pull through for many, many more. I promise I will call you to say hello, because when students go off to college, we forget that our grandparent's timeline is growing shorter, and they have had just as much an impact on our lives as our parents.
I love you Aba,
Madysen
