How can I begin to thank my grandmother for all that she gave me in life before she unfortunately passed away six years ago? I was incredibly close to her, and when she passed away it killed me. She was sick, and even though we saw it coming as she was in a coma for her final days, you can never fully prepare for the death of a family member.

While my grandmother suffered from Alzheimer’s, she never forgot who her family was. Her care and love for us always showed even when she called us the wrong names. Sadly, I do not remember a lot of my maternal grandmother before the disease impacted her quite negatively;however, I do remember some things that she taught me, and I hope I will never forget these things as long as I live. I have memories with her that will live on in my memory forever, especially when she was having good days with her Alzheimer’s Disease.

I remember when my father, mother, brother and I took my grandmother down to the Irish Hunger Memorial in Downtown Manhattan. The Irish Hunger Memorial is dedicated to those that passed away from the Irish Famine. My grandmother had a bad day the day before we went down, but that day she was much better. When we went down to the memorial, she was singing her Irish songs and humming along to others.

That day she taught me to not let any thing bring you down no matter the circumstance. She said you are always the strongest person that you know. She taught me to not care what people say to you, furthermore she taught me the only thing that matters is what you think about yourself and not about what others think of you. She taught me that family is always there for you no matter how close your friends are, that your family has to be there for you. I miss my grandmother every day. She taught me life lessons that I carry with me every day. When I carry these lessons with me, I think about the struggles and strife she went through in her life, moving from the United States to Ireland, along with her younger sister and younger brother during the Great Depression as their parents thought Ireland was the best place for them at that time. She had a hard time, living in Ireland away from her parents during the early years of her childhood. I can not empathize with her and think about what she went through. She faced hardships during her life that I could not think about struggling with in my life.

I loved my grandmother like there was no tomorrow. My grandmother was one of the most influential people in my life. She passed down the love she had of her family’s heritage in Ireland, her faith, her courage. I see pieces of her in the way I act and the way I am. I carry her forever wherever I go in my heart.