UP Close and Personal
...re she was, even names in our family. I didn’t think anything of it at the time because I was 11, and I thought older people forgetting things was normal. But then I found out it wasn’t normal. My mom told me my grandma had Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s is a disease that affects the memory part of your brain so eventually you will lose your memory and sometimes your motor skills. When my mom told me this, I thought, “Ok, grandma is sick. How long does it take to cure it?” Alzheimer’s has no cure, so eventually my grandma was going to lose her memory. Alzheimer’s disease is probably the most difficult for the family to watch their loved one suffer through this disease. At first, my grandma was pretty much the same as she always was, but she would do silly things such as putting Tide in the freezer. We used to laugh these things off, mostly to pretend that my grandma was just fine. She stayed like this for a while, forgetting recent events, since most Alzheimer’s patients lose their short-term memory first. Then in 2003, my grandma took a turn for the worse. My grandparents moved around to different places to give my grandma better care, but she eventually needed full time care and had to be placed in a nursing home. Then on December 19, 2003 with her memory and most motor skills gone, my grandma died. Her funeral brought everyone together in a short amount of time and all of the sudden it hit me. Family is the most important thing in my life and you need to cherish every moment you have with them. My grandma was very loving, kind, and taught me many important lessons. But the most important thing I learned from her was the importance of family. The irony is that I learned this at her funeral. Even though my grandma isn’t physically here, her spirit is. My cousin told me that somehow my grandma knew that our family wasn’t going to be together for Christmas that year. It was true; we all had different plans and couldn’t arrange to be together. Since Christmas is my grandma’s favorite holiday and she loved being with her family, she wanted everyone to celebrate Christmas. Because of her death, my family came together for Christmas and I saw how much we all loved my grandma. I also learned how much e...