I write this letter for all the kids whose grandparents didn't get to see them graduate, get married, or have their great-grandchildren. I write this for us. The one's whose life will forever be altered by this awful disease.
Dear Cancer,
You suck. There I said it. You and I both know it. I was there the day you diagnosed my grandma. I was at college for the next grandma's diagnosis. I was at basketball practice when you took my maternal grandma and I was at college again for my paternal.
You've become an uncomfortable part of my family. An uncomfortable for my parents and myself. We worry every day that you will reappear in our lives. You made yourself known with my stepdad. You have taken pieces of my heart with every step you take in my life.
What you didn't take were the memories. The laughs. And all the good times that we did have.
You'll never have the memories of the huge family vacation we took. You won't have my memory of taking grandma's hand and making her walking at least to the shoreline with me.
You won't have the tears that we shed at mom's wedding because grandma was able to make it. That was a good day. For grandma especially.
You won't have the joy that I felt when I got to have two of four of my grandparents at my high school graduation.
The day I found out you took my grandmas, I was angry. I asked God why did this have to happen to our family. Hadn't we been through enough already? Hadn't I?
Then I realized, God gave us this battle because he knew we could handle it. He gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers.
You may have taken the physical embodiment of my grandmas but you didn't take them from me. I'll forever be grateful for the love, memories, laughs, hugs, and baked goods that my grandmas provided. I've found my love for crafting from one grandma, also that I'm kind of a pack-rat, just like her. I've got a strange obsession with watching soap operas when I have spare time, mostly when I'm sick because that's what I did with the other grandma when I was sick. I'll cherish these things throughout the rest of my life.
So no Cancer, you didn't win. I did. I had the best times with my grandmas, I still hate you, though.
With cold regards,
A granddaughter who lost both grandmas to the silent killer
