Ever since I was about 12 ounces, my grandma took care of me, nurtured me, fed me with anything she could find in her pantry.

My parents always had work in the mornings, so they would always take me to my grandma’s house on the weekends. I loved it there. She always had a bag of Hot Cheetos or Sour Cream Lay’s, and the best part was definitely her brand new iPad 4 with the full Minecraft pocket edition installed. I would get Cheeto dust all over the house and she always yelled at me for that. Naps were routine at her house, but I always hated naps.

Grandma also taught me multiplication; well she tried to teach me but I was 3 years old and unfortunately couldn’t fully comprehend the concept.

My grandma stood up for me whenever my parents yelled at me, always took me shopping for the newest light up Skechers, and made sure I took care of myself more than anyone. My grandma made me drink medicine when I was sick, made sure I brushed my teeth and washed my face, and always cut my fingernails way too close.

As I aged, she taught me how to talk to girls, taught me fashion, and taught me how to cook. She introduced me to basketball, my first true love, and as always, made sure I was keeping my grades up. Grandma came to as many of my basketball games as she could, even though day by day it was getting harder for her to walk.

The card games I know, the life skills I use everyday, the kindness I try my best to spread, all come from my grandma and the hundreds of days I would spend with her. My grandma was my backbone, my best friend, and I could never have imagined a life without her.

She died on December 11th, 2021, 9:07 P.M.

It was the biggest loss of my life. My entire childhood officially entered the past when she left. A piece of me left with her, and nobody can ever repair or replace that. I was absolutely shattered. It was crazy to think that everything we would do together was history and could not be reached anymore. Her death made me realize how quickly people can be taken out of life, how each and every one of us are at the hands of death every single waking day we have.

I realized that I had to be somebody.

I had to be somebody because if I could be taken out of this world at any minute, even as I’m writing this, I want to be remembered. I want to leave an impact on the world, I want to leave some sort of value like my grandma did.

My grandma’s picture frame on the shrine is a reminder of how suddenly a life could change. Thinking about her keeps my head on straight and motivates me not just to do well in school but to do well in everything that I do. Every time I think about her I push myself a little further, because if I was taken from life in that moment, all my chances of being somebody are stripped away from me forever.

I can feel my grandma watching over me sometimes, she’s probably yelling at me right now for doing work and eating dinner at the same time. Miss you bà nội, hope we can go shopping for sketchers again.