My Grandmom is my favorite person, my role model, and the woman I aspire to be. She is the most caring, loving, hilarious, and down to earth person I know. She shows unconditional love to her friends, family, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren through her words and actions. She will tell you the honest truth whether you want to hear it, or not. She is the best cook I know and taught me the importance of tradition and family when I was little in the kitchen. My Grandmom tells the best stories and has the best life lessons. She has a special 'in' with the man upstairs and her prayers always seem to get answered.

My Grandmom has been through so much this past year. I cannot even begin to express how proud I am to call her my Grandmom. I am so proud of how far she has come and her incredible motivation. She is truly an inspiration.

This summer my Grandmom was hospitalized and in the ICU for a while. The doctors were not hopeful. They told us to prepare for the worst. My family learned the importance of taking one day at a time. When you are faced with difficult situations in your life, the most important thing you can do is take one day at a time. Do not dwell on yesterday or fast forward to tomorrow. Each day my Grandmom slowly got better and was constantly surrounded by family and friends. We never gave up on her, so she never gave up on herself.

It is amazing to think how different a day is now compared to those long days in the hospital. Over the summer, I would visit my Grandmom in the hospital and hold her hand in the ICU without being able to talk with her because of the ventilator and now I can have conversations with her and take walks down the halls and outside on nice days.

If you asked the doctors if this would be the case they would give you that "look" and tell you in the most professional way that that is probably not going to be the case. Each day my Grandmom got stronger and never gave up. Her recovery was long and difficult. Some days I don't know how my Grandmom had the strength to keep going. Her family was her motivation. My Grandmom always had family by her side as a coach on days that were challenging.

This is yet another reason why I aspire to be a physical therapist. I see the importance of hard work and dedication and that it will pay off. I get pure joy from seeing people work hard to achieve their goals. Nothing worth it comes easy. Frustration is all part of the recovery process, because it makes you work harder. Anything is possible if you set your mind to it. Physical therapy is essential in order to get stronger after an extended hospital stay. It is incredible how our bodies work and how we can get stronger.

My Grandmom is my biggest blessing, especially this year, because her persistence and patience on her journey to get better is so admirable. She is truly a fighter. I am thankful for her incredible strength. Her strength is what helps me get through those bad days. If she did not give up when times were challenging, I will not give up either.