This story is for my grandpa Duane, my best friend, may his legacy live on forever
He never missed a birthday card
I could always count on him being the first call in the morning to sing to me
I was his princess, his world, and he was mine
He knew from birth that was the best word to describe me
I always felt loved when I heard him call me his “princess.”
He was the most musically talented person in the world
I swear his brain was full of music notes and treble clefs
He taught himself everything from the banjo, guitar, mandolin and fiddle
I don't think he loved anything as much as bluegrass music
I remember proudly watching him play with his brothers

The lake house that he shared with my grandmother was never quiet
Music flooded the rafters and hallways like a friendly ghost
He was always strumming away on the mandolin to a song called Charmaine
That song, it soothed all my worries
There was something about it, something I can't put into words
You just had to be there
I close my eyes and I’m six years old
I’m sitting on his lap again, trying not to get in the way
I was as curious as a cat when it came to his instruments
I knew I wanted to be just like him

Now it’s a few months from my birthday
I told my grandpa I wanted to learn to play the fiddle
Just like him
Little did I know, he was going to fulfil my wish
He bought an old, beat up fiddle off of tradio
But he saw potential, just like he did in everything else
I loved him because he always looked past the imperfections
According to my mom, he worked on it from sunup to sundown
It was what kept him going after my grandmother left us
From a long hard battle with the beast
Cancer

Suddenly my world changed forever.
My best friend, my grandpa, got sick
My mom woke me up in the middle of the night
She told me we needed to go to the lake
7 hours later and i'm sitting in a hospital
The nurses were trying to make him as comfortable as they could
They found cancer in his spine, it was too late
The words “terminal” fell out of the nurses mouths like a poison
The godforsaken beast had already made its way to his lungs, kidney, liver
He had a week, at most
He was almost gone, in a medically induced coma
His bed was replaced with a hospital gurney
The Hospice nurse was always lingering
On stand by for his last breath

I wasn’t ready to let go
Nothing in life can ever prepare you for this
I held his hand as tight as I could
I didn’t want him to feel alone
He was surrounded by his favorite people
But something was missing
It was the music
We played his favorite song, Charmaine

In this moment, something magical happened
His hands started moving
It's like it rejuvenated, electrified his soul
He showed us he wasn’t gone
It was a sign from god

His monitor flat lined
His breathing slowed
Tears welled in my eyes
My family around him started to cry
We knew he was gone
The angels had called for him
He was home, watching over us
My grandpa was out of pain

I reflect back to his funeral
A man in uniform played taps to honor my grandfather
That was the most powerful moment I had ever witnessed
To this day,
I am thankful for him
I will never forget him
Forever and always, my hero