Today was a special day for me, and also an incredibly sad one. Today was my grandmother's birthday. Well it would have been my grandmother's birthday. You see my grandmother, Patricia Ann Vorpe VanTassell, passed away on a sunny day in July of 2002. It seems almost odd that she was born on a cold day in December but left us on a bright summer morning.
For most people the loss of a grandparent doesn't seem to affect them after some time, but with me it has been different. For the vast majority of my young life my grandmother, whom I called Nanny, was always there much like another parent. She basically was like my father or another mother, always there for me. My actual father wasn't around when I was a child, and my mother did not get married until I was about 8. That union only lasted til my freshman year of high school, so I didn't really have a great deal of 'father figures' in my life. My mother tried her best, don't get me wrong, but she worked and wasn't also there. My grandmother was... She taught me how to ride a bike for goodness sake! So to lose her, I felt like I lost a part of myself.
This may come as a surprise to most people, but up until then I wasn't as close with my mother. It was my grandmother that I poured my heart out to, if I told anyone at all. It took her leaving us to push my mother and I closer together, so I do thank her for doing that for us.
I know that she will always be looking down on me but there are just times I wish she were still here in the physical sense. Like at my college graduation or my wedding. I know on both occasions she would have been so proud of me. She never got to meet someone who is a large part of my life, Bob. And at times like this I miss her the most...
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