Sitting down in class, I check my phone and see a text from Mom. Thinking it’s just going to say something about a doctor’s appointment or what time she will be home tonight, I read it. But the message says my Grandma died early that morning.
Sitting with some of my best friends in study hall, I didn’t think much about it. I still am the same “Charlie” I always have been. I’m the Charlie who has never had to deal with anything like this in the past. It didn’t really hit me until later that day, that someone so close to me was gone.

She had a stroke a week before, leaving the left side of her body paralyzed. I came back from a basketball tournament in Ohio and still remember walking into the room seeing her totally different. She could only say a few words at a time, but she still made jokes. And she was still the same person I loved to be with.
My grandma was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer 8 weeks before she passed away. During chemo, she was still the person I looked up to. She wasn’t letting cancer overcome her. It seemed like she was diagnosed one day and the next day she was gone. She never gave up.
The memory of my Grandma serves as motivation to do my best all the time. Being dedicated in school and athletics has become a significant part in my life. Whenever I am close to giving up in a workout, or maybe when there is a problem I’m working on that I can’t figure out, I always think of my Grandma who never gave up dealing with a lot more serious problems.
Since her passing, I’ve realized the invaluable lessons she taught me. She taught me how to stay strong, not physically, but mentally. As she would always say, “Be the best you can be.” I learned that one day it will be all over, so you have to live life happy and never let anything change the person you are, even if it’s something that can kill you. It taught me to take nothing for granted, even the smallest things like waking up everyday. It made me not want to waste any of the opportunities I have been given from there on. All that I took away from her passing was positive, because I believe that’s just what she wanted me to do. She taught me that if I have the ability to be a genuinely nice person, why not be that type of person all the time and never be negative.

The influence that my Grandma had on me, makes me want to have the same effect on others. I will never know if I put the same impact on her, but if I did, I know I’m doing things right. I take pride when my friends and family tell me I am a loyal, reliable, and caring person. They are the qualities I took from her and will bring to my life in college. This whole experience has taught me to never look back, and keep moving forward because you never know where life will take you.