Life Changing Moment Essay

Ever since I can remember I spent almost ever y day at my Grandparents house. They live right down the road from my family and me, and that is how they got the title â€Å"Grandma and Grandpa down the road†. They lived in a small house three bedrooms, one bathroom, and a small living room with a fire place that can worm the coldest heart. And in their back yard stood a shed filled with old farm equipment and stray cats with their kittens that I would try to catch every day. They are now both 78 years old and sadly not very healthy. My grandpa was diagnosed with lung cancer in October, and it changed my grandpa’s life, my family’s life, and my life. I remember that October day so perfectly. I got out of class, called my Aunt Gwen for directions to the hospital he was at, and went on my way. I arrived at the hospital just as my grandpa was slowly making his way down the hallway with his oxygen and with my aunt right by his side. I look at her face and I can tell she is trying to hold back tears. My Uncle Jacky was there too which is my grandpas oldest son. After the doctors we went to Ryan’s restaurant and ate lunch, its where he always ate with my grandma when she had to go to the doctors. Now my grandpa is a big guy and watching him barely eat that day was terribly hard. I could barely look at him for I was trying to hold back all my tears with everything I had. From that day on I knew my grandpa’s life wouldn’t be the same. The doctors said they would be able to cure him, the cancer had spread to his fluids. My grandpa has been doing chemo therapy to just slow the cancer down and sadly he has to come to his last treatment. When this terrible news got around to the family we all grieved, especially my dad. My dad was my grandpa’s youngest son, and they are the closest out of all the kids. My dad is just like my grandpa, he’s hard working, tough, and hard of hearing. My dad was always down in the field with my grandpa. My grandpa would rack while my dad bailed hay, and after the boys got done my grandma would have lunch for them after a long day in the fields. Now that my grandpa is sick he won’t be able to do that. In fact the whole family doesn’t know if he will make it to hay season. My dad has to take care of two farms now, and my aunt has to stay at the farm house almost every day to take care of my grandparents since they are both sick. My family has been stressed to the max, we haven’t had any get to gathers in a while when my grandma would have a random family meal once a week. There is a lot of tension now from my grandma being stubborn and my grandpa not being able do very much at all when he used to be able to take care of her himself. My family is in a lot of pain, we never thought this would happen to us and now we can barely talk about the situation without somebody getting frustrated or upset our lives will forever be changed. Now out of all of the grandchildren ji was around my grandparents the most. They supported me in everything that I did. They were always in the front row of all my volleyball games, at my gymnastics meets, and they even watched me cheer for a year after I decided I didn’t like it. I can’t imagine life without my grandparents they are my everything. My grandpa would always tell me about his time in the army. I would get out his old pictures and he would tell me everything, it was like traveling back in time and seeing my grandpa in his prime. I cant imagine not being able to see my grandpa again; when I went and visited him in the hospital with my sister not too long ago I could barely handle it. I had to step out of the room and take deep breaths. My grandpa is supposed to be the rock of the whole family and seeing him as a strand of grass was painful. My life will ever be the same, I think about him every day and pray that he gets better, and so far it hasn’t been working. Now that my grandpa is due for his last treatment of chemo all I can do is pray and hope for the best, hope that he makes it to my cousins wedding, makes it to my dad’s birthday, and makes it to birth of his first Great Grandson. He started this family pretty much and to just have to wait is going to be the most difficult thing that I have ever had to do. I miss him so much and I can’t wait to go home one weekend and hug him. I stop at my grandparents’ house first every time I go home. I swing the back door open and run in and greet them with a big hug. Even though now his life, my family’s life, and my life are forever changed he will still strong on our hearts. Now all we can do is wait, hope, and pray that god doesn’t take the Payne family’s rock away just yet, he has the most loving family and wife. And even though my grandpa doesn’t say much I wish he would say just once that he loves me and that he is proud to call me his grandchild, for I am the youngest and last Payne that will ever walk this earth and dirt road of AC highway or what me and my family call â€Å"Payne Lane†