Remembering the Love I Forgot because of Cancer

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I thought today would be the perfect day to share with you a love story. This isn’t your typical love story where two people fall in love. Instead this is a story about the love my Grammie and I share for each other.

Two weeks ago, I got the call no one wants to get, my Grammie (my mom’s mom) has cancer and it’s a bad one. She has Pancreatic Cancer and they need to operate soon. After losing my cousin only 6 months earlier to leukemia, my first thought was – am I going to lose Grammie too? I didn’t want to think negative though.

All of my mom’s family lives in NC but Grammie, lives in Florida where I grew up. Since I knew she didn’t have any family down there, I didn’t want her to go to any appointments alone nor find out just how bad the cancer was alone. So I booked a flight so I could be there with her for a week and I am so glad I did.

Before I go on and tell you how the trip went, I need to give you a little history about my relationship with Grammie and Grandie (my grandpa). When we lived in FL we would see them a lot but once we moved up to NC we didn’t see them as much. I don’t remember being very close with them when I was younger but I don’t remember a lot about my childhood so it’s possible that I was. When I got pregnant at a young age and wasn’t married, my grandparents weren’t too happy. This put a strain on our relationship and for many years I didn’t really talk to them or see them. It wasn’t until the last couple of years that things changed and I started to forgive and forget for how I felt about everything. I guess as I got older and started to lose more people in my life and definitely after the loss the grandmother I was very close to, I started to realize I needed to cherish what time I have left with the grandparents I have left.

So it only made sense when I found out the news, that I needed to go be with Grammie in FL. Even though I knew the timing was bad I still felt like it would give me a chance to get to know her better and see how we’re alike. Boy am I glad I did go too. I never thought I was her but I realized I am. My Grammie is a strong – and stubburn – woman. She’s well organized, loves to be active and have a social life. She’s loyal to her husband and a true friend to the people she knows. I’m just like her in many ways.

Being with her for the week helped me to remember how much Grammie loves me and that even though she was disappointed in my choices when I was younger, she never stopped loving me and wanting the best for me. It was on this trip I realized, I am Grammie’s ONLY granddaughter and that in itself is something special. Together, we went to all of her pre-op appointments and together we prayed for God to heal her so we would have more time to get to know each other. I said an extra prayer that he would get her to move up to NC so she wouldn’t be so far away – but I’m not sure she would listen to him. LOL

Anyway, I want to share some of the old pics Grammie showed me while I was there. These are pics I will cherish forever.

I love looking at old pics, especially ones of her when she was younger. I can’t wait to visit her again after surgery and be able to look through more old photos and hear more stories.