Audrey was my grandmother and best friend. She was a true blessing for me to have in my life. My grandmother taught me to be the strong, independent young woman that I am today.
The day she died, was the worst day of my life.
I was in fifth grade, Mrs. Smith's class. My teacher got a phone call, it was the main office telling her to send me to the office because I was leaving for the day. Once I got to the office, there standing was my dad and other grandmother. Once we got in the car, I asked why I was being taken out of school early, my dad told me that he would talk to me once we got home. It was the longest car ride of my life even though we lived less than ten minutes from the school.
Once we arrived at the house, I got out of the car and ran inside. Excited to be home, I instantly felt isolated. Being the only one with a smile on their face, while everyone else had tears streaming down theirs. I should have known right away that something was wrong because everyone was there, including my Aunt Nicole, who lives in West Virginia and who I have only met once.
When I looked at my mom, I could tell that her heart was broken. Yet I didn't know why. And I didn't even realize that my grandmother was missing from the room until I looked at her seat at the dining room, it was empty.
As long as my grandmother was awake, she was always in that chair. Either smoking or enjoying a beer. After looking at the look on my moms face, I asked where my grandmother was, with tears welled up in my eyes, as if I didn't already know. "Karlie" she said, "this morning while Dane (my brother) was getting ready for school, he went into grandmas room, and he couldn't get the door open." My heart sank. I had no words. She continued, "We didn't know something was wrong until we realized that none of us could open the door, so we broke it down. Once we were inside, or had enough room to get in there, she was already gone."
Hearing the words coming out of my moms mouth, it didn't feel real. I looked at everyone in the room, as they stared at me, and I just walked out of the house. Why didn't I check on her that morning? Why did she die the way she did? Why didn't she live a longer life? All these questions ran through my head so many times. But with everything that was going on, I just walked out of the house in amazement.
I was amazed that my brother and sister weren't crying or upset. I knew that they were too young to understand what was going on, it made me so angry that they just didn't seem to care...
For the next two weeks, as we went trough all of her belongings, I never once stepped foot in her room unless accompanied by someone. For those two weeks, I did not attend school, I did not talk to anyone. All I did was walk around, listen to music and cry.
Still to this day, I do not know why she was taken away from me so soon. But I miss her more and more everyday and I wish she was still here to help me and guide me as she did when I was eleven. Although I am 20 now, and am faced with more challenges, when I am stressed, I still talk to her, ask her for guidance and pray everyday that she is looking down on me and protecting me. If I can't have her here, then I am glad that she is looking over me and being my full-time guardian angel.