i had to write a story about a memory that came to mind for english...this is my story
I still remember the day my mom told me my grandma, Yama, had finally passed away. She had been so sick for so long and we all knew that the cancer was going to win in the end. She had been fighting it for a couple of years, had gone through chemotherapy, had lost all her hair, and yet she still wasn’t getting better, only worse. In the end the doctors knew there was nothing else they could do for her so they had decided to let her go ahead and go home and be able to die in peace. She had passed away in her sleep at home. I was only eight when all of this had happened, and I still remember thinking that last month before she had passed away why we weren’t doing anything more, why weren’t people trying to help her before it was too late, instead of just preying every night in front of her bedroom. I didn’t realize then that my family wasn’t preying for her to get better but for her to be able to make it through the holidays before she had passed away, that she would not have to suffer for too much longer.
She ended up dying December 16th, 1995, six days before her birthday, nine days before Christmas. My mom told me about her passing early in the day, it was a sunny day, a very pretty day. It seemed like hours before we actually went to my grandmother’s, I kept wondering why we weren’t leaving right away, to go say goodbye to Yama. I kept thinking that the longer we waited the less time we had to say goodbye, I didn’t understand at that age that we weren’t going because my mom didn’t want it to be true. We each said goodbye to Yama that day.
The rosary for her death wasn’t too long after she had passed away. I can still remember us all sitting there and listened to the priest tell us how she was going to a better place. I kept sitting there watching my mom cry, watching my aunts and uncles cry, and kept telling myself I was not going to cry, that I was going to make sure I didn’t cry. I didn’t want to cry, to show how bad I was feeling, I didn’t want to make my mom see me crying, because I knew it would make it hurt more. I can still remember sitting up near the podium after the rosary was done, sitting up there at the front of the church, near the flowers, staying away from where my grandma was because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. I sat there staring at the flowers, wondering why they had to be so pretty for such an awful event. When I finally realized that I would have to really say goodbye forever is when I started to cry. My aunt had seen me crying and she took me outside in front of the church. She told me to look up into the sky and to choose a star, but make sure it was a star I would always remember. I chose the brights star I could see, right in the left hand of the sky, and pointed at the one I had chosen. She told me that one this star was were Yama was at. That no matter what, when ever I look up into the sky and see that star I will know she is looking down on me, making sure everything is alright. It is that star that I talk to when I look up into the sky on a star filled night. That story I tell people when I remember my grandma, I point to that star and think of Yama, and know she is always there looking after us.
She ended up dying December 16th, 1995, six days before her birthday, nine days before Christmas. My mom told me about her passing early in the day, it was a sunny day, a very pretty day. It seemed like hours before we actually went to my grandmother’s, I kept wondering why we weren’t leaving right away, to go say goodbye to Yama. I kept thinking that the longer we waited the less time we had to say goodbye, I didn’t understand at that age that we weren’t going because my mom didn’t want it to be true. We each said goodbye to Yama that day.
The rosary for her death wasn’t too long after she had passed away. I can still remember us all sitting there and listened to the priest tell us how she was going to a better place. I kept sitting there watching my mom cry, watching my aunts and uncles cry, and kept telling myself I was not going to cry, that I was going to make sure I didn’t cry. I didn’t want to cry, to show how bad I was feeling, I didn’t want to make my mom see me crying, because I knew it would make it hurt more. I can still remember sitting up near the podium after the rosary was done, sitting up there at the front of the church, near the flowers, staying away from where my grandma was because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. I sat there staring at the flowers, wondering why they had to be so pretty for such an awful event. When I finally realized that I would have to really say goodbye forever is when I started to cry. My aunt had seen me crying and she took me outside in front of the church. She told me to look up into the sky and to choose a star, but make sure it was a star I would always remember. I chose the brights star I could see, right in the left hand of the sky, and pointed at the one I had chosen. She told me that one this star was were Yama was at. That no matter what, when ever I look up into the sky and see that star I will know she is looking down on me, making sure everything is alright. It is that star that I talk to when I look up into the sky on a star filled night. That story I tell people when I remember my grandma, I point to that star and think of Yama, and know she is always there looking after us.