Dear grandma,

Last year when the days got hot and the nights got short I stood in the company of our family as they lowered you into the ground. Days before I watched as they crowded around your hospital bed. In those days we hugged a lot of people, ran out of Kleenex boxes, and started to grow tired of sympathetic glances. They say there are 3 deaths. The first being the actual death of a person, the second the death of their voice, and the 3^rd the death of their touch. The second and third are made for the living. That is why I refuse to believe you are gone.

Physically you are not here with us, this is evident to us at family gatherings and the absence of your random remarks. However I still remember the bounce of your curls and your small limp when you walked. I remember your tone of voice and when you would say just the right thing. Sometimes when I talk to my mom I imagine you are there and I can imagine the phrases you’d add into the conversation. I pictured you at the hospital saying comforting words to my mom before her surgery. I replayed our first day of school conversations we’d have when my nerves were bunched up in stomach. Yes, grandma a lot has changed in the year since you’ve been gone but one thing that doesn’t die is your memory and legacy that lives in our hearts.

I see your humor every time I look at my uncle and my cousin. I often imagine you laughing along with us on the corner of the couch. I guess that’s why I don’t like people sitting there. Every day, I see your strive for excellence that you would tell me about. The way my cousins and I are achieving an education like you always wanted. I see the struggle of motherhood in the eyes of my mother. The same struggle I’m sure you had in your eyes while you were raising her. Most of all I see your love. I see it in all of us, when we are together. It is evident in the way we look after and treat one another. So grandma, one year has passed us by all ready and many more will proceed after but know that we are ok. You are not forgotten because we live your legacy every day. We love you and miss you but you are not gone from our hearts.

Sincerely,

Your Grandchild