"Grandmothers created memories that the heart holds onto forever." - Unknown

As a college student, I've seen many Odyssey articles consist of "Thank You" letters to moms, dads, siblings, teachers, etc. This week, I'd like to shout out a thank you to my grandma. My grandma is a woman who has worked very hard and independently for the last 30 years coming as a refugee from her home country in Laos to live here in the United States. I've written an article titled "Life with My Brother" when he was coming home from bootcamp as a New Marine. There will be things that are the same but all the more reason to repeat it. As I'm sitting here and writing this, I am thinking about what this woman has done for not only me and my brother, but for others as well.

Growing up, my childhood wasn't rough but it wasn't smooth either. My brother and I had moved from our home in Tampa, Florida when our parents had divorced. I had an unstable mother who wasn't able to take care of us by herself so we were living at our grandfather's house for the time being. My grandmother decided it was best that Devin, my brother, and I live with her. As kids, we didn't understand what was going on but we did what we were told. Our childhood life then turned from living with my mom and grandfather to living with our grandmother in Duluth, Georgia. She had a husband, who we called our grandfather. He was always so loving to me and Devin, me mostly. I remember all the times he would take me out whenever he was off from work. He would buy me the things I loved, the movies that I wanted to watch, and the food I wanted to eat. He was always so caring and I found myself attached to his side all the time. My grandmother was always the one who was very strict and discipling my brother and I all the time. It was the reason why I never appreciated my grandmother as often as I should have.

But even then, I was still loved by grandmother. Both my brother and I, yes, we were disciplined by her but she still loved us. She would constantly say, "I'm giving you a lesson because I love you." It was hard for us as children to understand but nevertheless, it taught us not to do something we weren't supposed to do. Sometimes people will hold grudges for things that other people do to us, but not my brother and I. We didn't go about our daily lives holding a grudge for our grandmother. No, we loved her, still do to this day. And even though she taught us a lesson, she still loved us and took us everywhere we wanted to go. We would go on many fun adventures, just my step-grandfather, my grandmother, my brother and I. We went down to Florida, mainly Destin and Panama City, with our family friends and would have so much fun, even to Walt Disney World as well.

Devin and I were little and we had never seen or heard about my grandmother's siblings and her nieces and nephews until a few years old. We then met a bunch of our relatives from France and Canada. My brother and I were a little shy at first but then we started to feeling comfortable whenever they were around and we would have so much fun. When I was eight years old, my grandmother and I had taken us to Canada to visit her two sisters. Adults think that children don't understand or see things but we saw. My grandmother was so happy to see her sisters in Canada. We saw her really happy and it made us happy too. She then went with her friends to Laos and Thailand while we stayed with her sisters in Vancouver, BC. We understood. My brother and I didn't feel like we were abandoned. She needed a break so she could hang out with her friends. It was okay because my brother and I were having fun with our aunts and uncles in Canada.

When we got back home from our vacation, my grandmother and step-grandfather weren't getting along as well as they used to anymore. They soon got a divorce and I never saw him anymore. The man I called my grandfather left and took everything he bought for my brother and I with him. We were devastated that he had left and taken everything with him. We had thought he loved us but he never truly did. When he left, we never though he would have taken everything with him but he did. My brother and I were sad when he left. I was sad mostly. He was my grandfather and had hurt me the most. A few days later, after we got off the bus from elementary school, he stopped by and picked us up from school in his car. I was reluctant to get in but hey, it was a ride and I didn't have to use my legs to walk back home. So my brother and I got into the car and my step-grandfather drove us all the way back to the house. When we got out of the car to get into the garage, my grandmother was already waiting for us. She was upset that we had gotten into the car with him but as kids, we didn't realize why. He was still our grandfather and we loved him. In the end, he didn't stay. He only came to get the rest of his things and leave. That made us, my brother and I, hurt so much. In the end, my grandmother was the only one who cared the most for me and my brother, and she still cares to this day.

Throughout going to school, my grandmother raised us by having us set schedules for the week. Each and every day, we came from school and did what was written on the schedule. My grandma would have vocabulary words and spelling books out on the table for us to do once we got home from school. My brother and I would sit at the table and do the vocabulary words and spellings five times in a little notebook my grandma bought for us. This was to improve our spelling and expand our vocabulary. Needless to say, it really helped us a lot. After writing those words five times, we would do our homework for school and then read. It wasn't like reading wasn't fun. We got to go to the library and pick three books to read. Devin and I were never much about the outside life. Once in a while, we would go outside to the basketball hoop in our neighborhood and play with our neighbors or play outside in our front yard but not very often. Instead, we would be inside and be reading our books and playing educational computer games.

As we grew older, we got mature and wiser. We went about our everyday lives at school, from high school to college (and into the military) with the things that our grandma had taught us. I remember as a child when she would discipline us, she would say, "When you get older, you're going to think back and remember what I said to you and you will say that I am right about it." She was right, still is. She is right about everything and knows more than we do. Sometimes, I take her for granted and always don't appreciate what she does for me very often. For that, I am sorry. I wish I had appreciated her more often when I was younger. But now, I do. I appreciate everything she has done for me and still does for me. I love her so much.

My grandma was the one that got my brother and I into reading. Without her, I wouldn't be here dreaming to be a writer. I have to thank her for that. Without her, I wouldn't be able to follow my dream to write books and just read. So thank you, grandma, for that. Also, I thank her for raising us for being the people we are today. Without her, we would be lost. She has raised us without the help of any husband or without the help of my mom (when she wasn't around). So thank you, grandma, for everything you have done in my life and in Devin's life. I love you so much!