As I grew up I have always hated my red hair, but now it's the best thing about me and here is where it all began. When I was younger one of my best friends was my grandmother and I didn't even know it. When I started to get potty trained she was the first person there. I remember the story’s my parents told me that every time I had to go to the bathroom I would cry because I wanted her to be with me, she made me feel comfortable. When she left I always cried and wanted to be with her all the time. She had always protected me, like when my bigger sisters would pick on me growing up I remember she would always get mad and yell at them. When I was younger I had gotten into a lot of trouble, when I did all I wanted to do was hear my grandmas voice and talk to her, she always knew how to stop the crying. She always told me I was her favorite grandchild and I always made me happy and something I was proud of that.

There are so many memories of me and my grandma laying in my small bed and watching tv then falling asleep. But when she really became my best friend was when my parents had gotten a divorce, I was really young. Both of my sisters and my brother were a lot older than me so I never really talked to them like I talked to my grandma. My parents worked a lot soon after the divorced since they were single parents. I had started coming home a lot from school alone at a young age, so my grandma always came to watch me and make sure I was safe. When she would come and hang out with me she really spoiled me taking me out to dinner, lunch going shopping. But we would also hang at home and played games. These would be the times that we would fall asleep watching tv. She lived in Gahanna five minutes from where I use to live. Which meant I could always call when I need her, not feeling well or was bored and wanted someone to talk to.
when she moved to Cambridge things got a little harder. At this point, she lived almost two hours away in a very old town. Since she lived so far away I didn’t see her much anymore. But it didn’t stop her from coming to Gahanna to see our family. But when we did go into Cambridge there wasn’t much to do than ride on the four wheelers or find something random to do outside, it was fun. Some things I remember were painting rocks and rolling down the big on the side of the house. In the winter time, all we did was stay in the big cabin on the edge of the woods. One of the best things I remember when my grandma had moved into the house in Cambridge was she started to really care for animals.

By the time she had passed she had rescued 5 dogs and 6 cats, it was a lot at times but I really liked animals too. She was so caring and loved everyone and everything. One day when she had come to Gahanna I was in the backyard, on my swing set. She had surprised by coming out into the deck and walking to me. She asked me if anything looked different, I had no idea. Then she said she stopped smoking, I was so excited and happy for her. She told me that she was getting too old for smoking and needed to be more healthy, and I knew why. She had been stopped smoking for about 2 years and she looked and sounded great.
But soon things started going downhill quick. My 11th birthday was coming around, I came home from school had my dad and grandma were there. It had looked like they were both very upset and my grandma had cried. They told me my grandma was diagnosed with cancer, I went blank. I just realized that I might lose my best friend, but I didn't cry. I never cried until it actually set in that she was gone forever, which was in the last year. She was diagnosed with breast cancer on October 6, 2015, it quickly had spread throughout most of her body. She soon started chemotherapy and radiation. She started losing her hair and wearing wigs. Everything started to get better soon after the treatment. In this point in time, I really tried spending as much as I could with her, even though she lived hours away.

Not too long after she started to grow her hair back on her head and eyebrows, they came back red like before. She was cancer free for a little over a year until October 10, 2016, this is where everything went downhill fast. On October 11, one day before my birthday they were going to take her into floor 4 which was hospice. But she was too far gone and very close to dying so we took her home. I spend day and night with her, I made her food, watched tv with her and played cards. I never knew the last time I would she so I made sure she knew I loved her. She had gone into a coma a couple of days at the house so I could talk to her anymore.

On October 16 I went back to my mom's early in the morning because I had school the next day. I went over to a friends house to hang out with. I called my dad before going to bed for school. I asked how was she doing and I heard crying in the background, I knew something bad happened. Then he said seconds later she just took her last breath, I started to ball my eyes out as my friend hugged me. He said she woke up for a couple of minutes before going back into the coma and passing. He told me that she made sure I loved her and I’ll miss her. After I got off the phone with my dad I called my mom. She asked if I wanted to come home but I didn’t want to be alone at the time, so I stayed at my friend's house. I didn’t go to school the next day because I just lost my best friend. She was 70 years old when she passed. I’m glad I did get to spend the short 11 years with the best grandma in the world. I miss her so much every day and hope she’s still watching over me and keeping me safe.