The Ones We Love Never Truly Leave Us.

Today I got the terrible news that my grandmother had passed away.

My grandparents in 1955

For anyone who does not know, my grandmother has been battling with Alzheimer's for the better part of a year and a half, along with all of the other health issues that comes along with it.

Yesterday, Thanksgiving day, my great aunt Betty had passed away. My grandfather, who has taken care of my grandmother along with the help of hospice, had a feeling they would pass away on the same day, since they were sisters. He was a day off, but still very close.

My grandparents and I at Disneyworld in 1995

My grandmother was the best of the best. She was a nurse for over 30 years, and always knew how to make you feel better. She would always bake cookies, pizza pie, and pumpkin rolls for the holidays. Plus she always made the best mashed potatoes and gravy.

She would hem my pants when I was 12, because my 5'2 statue would always end up ripping the back of my pants.

She was the chatterbox of the family. I could remember my mother being on the phone with her for hours at a time, and my grandmother would always talk her head off at family gatherings. She was always laughing and always smiling, something I miss the most.

She had a major part in raising me, as my parents got a divorce when I was young, and she was always there to color with when no one else was. Plus she was always happy to rat my mom out about things she did as a kid that got her into trouble.

My grandparents and I at my high school graduation in May 2008

The last day that I saw her was yesterday, for Thanksgiving. She wasn't herself at all, and she hadn't been for over a year. But I told her I loved her, and I told her goodbye when I left.

In a sense, my family and I are a little revealed. We, of course, never wanted her to leave us, but the life she was living was not living at all, and it was the life she always hated. She couldn't move on her own, she couldn't speak, she couldn't eat or drink. She never wanted to live the life she had seen in patients she worked with so many times.

But I know she is in a better place now, wherever that may be. I have a feeling she is sitting with the rest of her family, gardening or hemming more pants for me when the time comes to see her again.