I once had an amazing grandmother who practically raised me but, like all great things, she had to go. When I was young, I spent every day at her house, but, as I got older, my visits became few and far between. I spent my time with friends and sports so I thought of that as an excuse not to visit. When I did have to go down to her house, I would wish I was doing something else; I had no idea how much I would regret that. Sometimes, we learn best by experiencing tragedy first hand, and by regretting our actions.
Through my seventh and eighth grade years, she was in and out of the hospital constantly, but she always pulled through, so every time she would get sick I would not worry. At the end of eighth grade year, on a Saturday night, my sister decided to spend the night with her. The next morning she ran up to the house telling my father something was wrong with our grandmother. He told my mother to watch the kids while he ran down to check on my grandmother; still, I didn’t suspect a thing. About 20 minutes later, our mother called all of us down stairs. I sat down at the kitchen table searching my parents’ faces for some sign of what this was about but all I saw was sorrow. With eyes full of regret and loss, our mother turned to us and said,” Grandma is gone. She passed away last night.” I was in disbelief until she walked us down to my grandmother’s house to say our goodbyes. I looked down at her lifeless body and, with tears rolling down my cheeks, I began to regret everything. I should have spent more time with her. I should not have been so selfish. To this day I regret it. You should never take others for granted today; they can be gone tomorrow.
R.I.P Billie Sue Boardman