When I was 16, my grandfather, the man I called my Pop-pop, passed away. After fighting Parkinson’s disease, which slowly eats at your body, he passed away. That man was, and to this is day is the strongest person I know and my hero.

It is hard when you lose someone who is close to you. The immediate loss is overbearing and hard to get past. However, as time goes by, you get stronger and life goes on because it has to. You spend your nights thinking about them and then those nights get shorter and shorter. The tears do not come as often or as much, but they come from time to time. Then, it hits you a year later that it has been that long since they were gone, and it hurts all over again.

No matter how they go, your hero always stays with you. You will always look up to them and think of the strong and amazing person they were. There will be times when you smile at their memory and are happy to know them. There will also be times when you stay up crying because you just wish you had one more day with them to tell them what they meant to you. Therefore, you say it to the air, to pictures, to letters, and anything else that makes you think of them. You tell them how important they are. You tell others how important they are to you and as the years pass, you cry less and less when you think about them or tell others about who they were and what they mean to you. It is never what they meant to you, because you still look up to them. You will always remember the last time you saw them, the last time you hugged them, or talked to them. It will come into your head here and there, and you will be thankful it happened and that you had that last time with them.

My Pop-pop is my hero not just because of his disease but so much more. He is the one man I know I can always count on and look up to. In all of my memories, he always had a smile on his face for me as well as a story to tell. Even on his worst days, the disease would eat at him and he was in pain, but he would smile and do all he could to stay happy. He was kind to everyone he knew, even if they were not the kindest to him. Losing him hurts more than anything else I have ever gone through. It is hard to lose your hero.

Just remember that the time you spent with your hero is yours. I will always remember the times with my Pop-pop and the same will go for you. It will stay with you for the rest of your life; you will think of them when you go to that job interview, when you get the job, and you will just want to tell them. I think they already know, just like they already know that you think of them. These people will never leave us. Though we cannot see them, they are a part of who we are, and isn’t that what makes them so great? So to all of those heroes, no matter how they have touched us and whether they are lost or still around, I say thank you for being the amazing people you are.