Death is an inevitable part of life; however, that does not make it any easier.

            Recently my family suffered a great loss, my grandfather passed away the day after Thanksgiving. We mourned and kept asking why it had to happen. Why does cancer have to exists? Why did he have to leave? What will we do without him? How do we go on without him? These questions I still have no answers for.

            As a child my grandparents played a major role in my upbringing. Every single day since I was 6 weeks old, my grandparents kept me when my parents went to work. I grew up in South Mississippi where we did not simply sit inside all day and watch T.V. Some of my best memories are playing in my grand-parents yard with my cousins as Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw sat on their porch and would watch us play. My grand-parents honestly helped truly shape me into the person I am.

            My Paw-Paw was a hard-working man who always provided for his family. I remember sitting in his shop with him as he would tell me stories about when he was growing up and about all of the adventures he had been on. But my favorite story that he told was the one of when he asked my great- grandfather if he could marry my grandmother after they had only dated 2 weeks (Paw-Paw knew she was the one from the very beginning) but guess what my great grandfather said, he said yes! My grand-parents spent 59 years together and raised 6 children together. The word “family-man” simply does not do him justice.

            I was probably around the age of 7 or 8 and one summer my grand-parents had blackberries growing in their back yard. Every single day after we would eat lunch, me and Paw-Paw would walk down the hill and pick bowls of blackberries and freeze them. We were trying to pick enough so that Maw-Maw could make black berry dumplings (that was Paw-Paw’s request). And one day we finally had enough to make a big pot of dumplings. I was so anxious to try them, because I had heard my Paw-Paw go on and on about how good they were going to be. Well the time came to try the infamous dumplings. I did not like them at all. However, my Paw-Paw loved them and I acted like I did to, just because I wanted to be like him.

            As I said earlier, my grand-parents spent 59 years together (did I mention they only dated 2 weeks before they got married? Crazy, right?). My Paw-Paw adored my grandmother; that was his true love. Every year there was a rose bush in my grand-parents yard, and every summer only one rose would ever bloom. But as soon as that rose was to bloom Paw-Paw would walk outside and pick that single red rose for my Maw-Maw. He loved roses; but not as much as he loved Maw-Maw. They are truly an inspiration to me as to what I want my marriage to be like one day. I want to have someone that I am content enough with to just sit on the porch for hours with when I am old and gray. I want a love like my grand-parents shared.

            Paw-Paw became sick a while back, but we did not find out about the cancer until about 3 or 4 months ago. He fought a good fight, but God knew he needed my Paw-Paw to be one of his angels (I know he made a good one). The pain of losing someone that you are so close to is just something that is hard to get past, but we will survive this. I wrote this as a dedication to my Paw-Paw, so that I could share with the world what a blessing this man was to the world. He truly was an inspiration, and now he is my guardian angel.

                                    I love you Paw-Paw, and I miss you every single day.

                                                                                    Love always,

                                                                                                Miss LeAnn