It was 6:30 pm. when dad got home. My brother and I were on the couch working on homework. When dad walks through the door, he usually asks how our day was. I was all prepared to tell him that I had a wonderful day with little homework, but a little bit of studying to do. I could hear his footsteps echoing down hallway, getting closer and closer.  I was about to burst with joy, like a little kid when the pinata opens and bursts with candy at a birthday party, with all the things about my day that I wanted to tell him. When he turned the corner, I knew that something was wrong. Whether Dad has had a good day or a bad day, he always left it all at the door walks in with a smile on his face, ready to hear about our day. Today was different.  He walked in and was all sad; you could tell that something was on his mind. I asked, “Are you going to ask me about my day?’’  He replied, “No. I needed you and your brother so put down your books for a few minutes because I need to talk to you both about something very serious.’’  Is mom ok, are we moving, did I do something wrong? All of these things are going about in my head. He then went on with his very serious conversation that he needed to have. ‘’Kids, you need to pack up all of your school work and a few things to entertain you for a few hours,’’ said Dad.
My brother said what we were both thinking, ‘’Why?’’
‘’Well as soon as your mother gets home, we will be heading off to the hospital.’’   
‘’Hospital?!’’ I quickly interrupted.
‘’Well, it’s Granny. I don’t know the full story.  All that I know is that she went to the hospital in Kokomo, and they are transferring her in an ambulance to the St.Vincent's hospital here in Indianapolis. They should arrive at the new hospital location in about half an hour. Mom should be home in five minutes and we’ll all get the car and meet your uncle and aunt there along with your cousins. Grandma is riding behind the ambulance and Grandpa is riding in the ambulance with Granny.’’ Trying to hold back all my thoughts on why would she be going to the hospital and why was she going to one an hour away from where she lives in Frankfurt, I went to my room and packed my bag like I was told to do. I packed all of my school things that I needed to study with and a few other things to play with all my older cousins because if we weren’t going to be there for long, then he would not have made us bring a bag full of stuff.
When Mom got home we raced to the car, and were off to the hospital. Everyone in the car was silent, the radio wasn’t on or anything.  It was like the whole world was silent. Every time I heard an emergency vehicle, like a police car or a fire truck, I got so paranoid. Being in the car felt like so long, even though it was only about 20 minutes away, I wanted to get there before she did just to be able to see her. As we are pulling up the the hospital my heart rate begins to grow, and grow, I can feel my heartbeat in the tips of my fingers. We probably all felt like that as we walked out of the parking garage and onto the sidewalk. When we almost reach the door, dad stops my brother and me and says, ‘’Everyone in there is worried about Granny with what could be wrong, and how this has happened. I can imagine that Grandpa will be very emotional because this is his mom. Please stay strong for your family members and most importantly for Granny herself, she probably is scared and doesn’t know what is happening to her.’’  My brother and I nodded with knowing that we had to be strong.
We were confident as we walked in because we had just been told to stay strong. I have never seen my family like this. My dad’s side of the family is the one that I don’t have to dress up around or be all fancy. They are the ones that are funny and know how to have a good laugh. Around the other side I feel like if I am my true self, then I am not approved of. I feel like I have to act a certain way in order to be liked on my mother's side of the family. Don’t get me wrong, I love them, and I know that they love me, it is just that they are a lot more strict. Most people have that kind of grandparent thing, you know that one with the strict side and the one with the fun side. When we walked in my fun side of the family was now the sad side. It was obvious that they knew a little more than we did. When we walked in and I see them all sitting there, I examine each one to try and pick up clues on what they feel and how strong I needed to be. First I looked at my Uncle Tom, he was fixed on his shoes. You could tell that he was trying to hold his emotions in. Trust me you would know when a 6’4-6’7 man with lots of muscle gets emotional. Then I looked at my Aunt Mary. She looked hopeful that everything would be ok. You could tell that she was being strong by holding her emotions as well. Next my brother and I both look at the cousins and then at each other. I knew what they were all thinking and my brother did too. We first looked at Cody,(17) he was the one who looked the most calm out of all of us.  Maybe it’s because he has known her the shortest, I thought. I know that it sounds weird but even though he is the oldest he has known Granny the shortest. That’s because my uncle got a divorce with my cousins’ mom about 12 years ago. He then just about a year or two ago met Mary, and, they have now been married for a few months. Aunt Mary and Cody have known her the least amount of time but they still loved Granny just like they had been here all along. They didn’t have as many memories like the rest of us but with granny it was different. She made memories no matter what. Next we looked at Troy (15) the third oldest of all of us great grandchildren, he looked like he was thinking about crying, and being strong all at the same time. We finally looked at Kayela (14) the second youngest out of all of us, she looked like she was already halfway or even a little more than half way to crying. No one said anything until my mom walked in. When mom walked through the door she was very confident, about twice as much as my brother and I. She said to be happy because if we are sad, than Granny won't want to keep fighting for life so we need to be happy because granny would want us to be.They all agreed we put a smile on our face as we made our way to the elevator. all of us wanted to changed the subject so, we changed it to school and other things that had happened back at home. My family doesn’t really see my dad’s side of the family that often, because of the time that we would have to travel we only see each other on holidays, birthdays, and on certain weekends when Kayela and Troy aren’t at their mom’s house.
When the elevator got to the 3rd floor we stepped off to the smell of a clean waiting room, for the most part it was empty. I looked farther into the room only to see my Grandpa and Grandma sitting in the waiting room.grandpa was watching tv to get his mind off of things and grandma was talking on the phone to her sister. All nine of us walked in like is was just another Easter Sunday at grandma’s house. ‘’so, what up haven’t seen y’all in a while’’ mom said.
‘’well you know.’’grandpa replied with a displeasing grin.
‘’oh Chuck, don’t think that way’’ mom said
We had now been at the hospital for about a full 40 minutes we all started to get very hasty. The doctor came into the waiting room shortly after with some news to tell us. After seeing all of the shows on tv about the news that the doctor tells the family, it usually isn’t good, so of course I was worried. The doctor was very nice and told us that Granny was being watched very carefully by the nurses, but we didn’t know if she was going to make it through the night. Like a ton of bricks all of our hearts dropped. The doctor told us that only three of us at a time could go back and see her because she was a little too fragile and there are a lot of nurses in the room, so to make it not feel over whelming only three of us went at a time. I was still in shock from what the doctor had told us that I didn’t call dibs on going to see her first. It wouldn’t have mattered because the parents went first. my mom and dad went and came back with shock in their eyes. next went mary and uncle tommy and cody went, they came back with that same look on their face. Mary had tears forming in her eyes. It made us all wonder what had happened in the room. Kayela and Troy went next with Uncle Tommy as their guardian. when they got back Troy was crying not a little but a lot, Kayela was crying like a little baby. Is everything ok? Did she pass while they were in the room? Part of me wanted to stay back as if it would help all of us, but I was eager to see her. My dad stood up from where he was sitting ‘’Come on kids lets go and see Granny.’’ As we are walking down the very long hall we all got silent, that is until I broke it with all of my questions like, “What will she look like once I get in there, and what is wrong?”  As we walked into the room, my attention didn’t go straight to her.  At first, it went to all the items around the room, like all the medicines and machines.  Next it went to the nurses and what they were busily doing at the counter.  Then the smell hit me, and I realized I really was in a hospital.  I turned around to see Granny laying the hospital bed with machines hooked up to her arms.  I didn’t want to break down crying because I didn’t want her to see me that way.  She wouldn’t have wanted me to cry.  She always wanted everyone to be happy.  I don’t know why everyone came back crying because while we were in the room, it was kind of fun.  We asked her some questions about if she knew her name, when her birthday was, and where she was.  She answered every question sassily, with confidence in every answer.  Every answer she gave brought a smile to my face, but all I could say in the room was, “I love you, Granny.”  I don’t know why I felt like it was going to be the last time I ever spoke to her, but it was all I could say. 
When my brother and I were walking in the hallway, I didn’t really think of what was going to happen.  I turned around to see my brother getting choked up. That then made me realize what the doctor had said and how she was acting and feeling in the room. I remembered from earlier before that the doctor had asked grandpa if he wanted to end Granny’s misery through this painful process. He said no. But I remembered while in the room one of the nurses put some kind of a liquid into her water. I don’t know why, but the first thing that came into my mind was that they were going to put her to sleep. I asked my dad, and he said that it was only pain medicine.  I hadn’t realized that she was in that much pain, but the rest of my family did. Everyone went back for a second round to see her again.  When I came back to go to the waiting room the second time, I crashed down and couldn’t be strong anymore. I crashed down and started crying and bawling as I entered the waiting room.  I came back to find my family standing there with open arms as if they’d been waiting for me to cry the whole time.  They knew that I couldn’t stay strong anymore, and they knew that this unexpected surprise was too much for me to handle.  The doctor came back a little while later and said that all the nurses had left her room and we could all go back for prayer.  We all jumped at the chance to see her again.
As we entered her room, Granny had the biggest smile on her face, bigger than any smile she had had when individuals came in her room. I wondered why her smile was so big, but then I realized that the thing that had always made Granny smile was seeing her family all together at once.  We closed the night with a very good prayer from the hospital chaplain and all went back to our homes.  Some of us didn’t go back to work or school the next day, but I did.  I thought that if I went back to school it would get my mind off of things and get help me relax a little from all the family stress.
When I got to school, my friends were very supportive in helping me along with this journey.  Some of them knew about Granny from the wonderful stories I told, and some of them had just found out about her as the process was happening.  Throughout the day, I started to feel better with my emotions, and the thoughts sort of brushed off my mind.  I got home at 3:40, and it hit me again: this was real.  I knew it was because when I walked in, Dad, Mom, and Andrew were all sitting at the table.  They all had red eyes, and Mom had a tissue in her hand.  I started to cry without even knowing what they were about to tell me.  And when Dad told me that Granny had passed, I wasn’t as sad as I thought because I knew that one day I would see her again, and this time it would be forever.