One of the many things I am thankful for in my life is that I still have my great-grandparents. My Grandma and Grandpa Cheek were both born in the 1920s and married in 1945. That’s 71 years of marriage to the same person. If that is not love I don't know what is because my grandpa is not the easiest to put up with. We love him all the same, though.

My great-grandparents have shown and taught me a lot in my 18 years of life, so this is a thank you to them. (Even though they don't have internet and probably won’t see this.)

To start off, I just want to say how much I love you both. You have been on this earth a pretty long time so you have been through a lot. You have been through depressions, wars, attacks, and so much more. I am very happy you lived through all that because it shaped who you are.

Thank you for helping raise me. My parents may not want me to say this, but they needed help raising my sister and I. And you helped out a lot. So thank you for that. I remember many days at your house eating ice cream for 3 p.m. snack time, eating a lot of chicken noodle soup while picking out the chicken pieces, and playing many rounds of Skip-Bo.

Thank you for always coming to all the events: every senior cheer night, homecoming, and dance recital for me, and every softball games and tournament for Kenzie. Even though it terrified me when you drove there, you always showed up.

Thank you for showing me that even if you live with someone for 71 years you can still love them. I will always remember Avon days when grandma would fill her table with orders and bag them up while grandpa stood at the counter stamping her contact info on all of the new catalogs and booklets.

Thank you for every Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Grandma cooked everything, but grandpa could carve a mean turkey. (Or so I was told; I don’t eat turkey.) I’ll also remember every meal grandma cooked while grandpa sat and watched the evening news. I don’t know what I would do without mashed potatoes, spaghetti and meatballs, and that casserole that has no name but Kenzie and I love.

Thank you for always giving me the best Christmas presents. My Avon product-filled stocking is always the best part. You also gave me my first car. It did’t last very long, but while I had it it was a pretty awesome car.

Thank you for showing me that schedules can be a good thing. Breakfast at seven, lunch at noon, and dinner at five; and if mealtime is one minute late grandpa starts tapping his glass at the table. Then there is the TV schedule. News at seven, noon, one, and five. Sprinkled in between the news is "Gunsmoke," "Bonanza," "Andy Griffith," "Everybody Loves Raymond," and whatever game show grandpa can find.

In the end, thank you for being you. Grandma for being the best cook and best Avon saleslady ever (she’s been at it for more than 50 years), and grandpa for being there when we needed a laugh by telling the stories of life on the farm, like cutting chickens heads off and watching them run around (that story was told at the dinner table—yum). Thank you so much. I love you both so much and I will forever.