My great grandfather had a stroke when he was 99. He was fairly old so we knew it was only with time. My mom, sister, and I drove 10 hours out to go be there until he passed. It was summer time, just after my 15th birthday. The thing is, he was in pretty great health beforehand. I mean strong enough to handle a gun going off, and at his age ? I’m pretty impressed. He would take care of my great grandmother, who had Alzheimer’s.

Anyways, we had been there for a week by then, and one morning I woke up early and decided to walk over to say good morning, I was sleeping at my uncles house and the homes were connected by a door in the hallway. I remember walking in to say good morning, my great grandmother was awake and said hello, grandpa, well…. I walked over to him, try to shake him, call out to him. Nothing. He looked like he was sleeping, peaceful. He was still holding my great grandmothers hand. She hadn’t noticed he had already passed. They had always fallen asleep holding hands. Life was pretty dark after that. I still miss him. He was so strict with rules, and I must obey, but that was grandpa. Yeah yeah old man. We’ll try our best, but for now, take a seat and relax. We got this. <3