Reminiscence of a Person

My grandmother was the funniest person I know. She was full of jokes, pointless information, and was always laughing. Whenever I’m having a bad day her smile would make me feel so much better. On those summer walks, she’d smile at all the colorful flowers, the bird’s chirpings, and wind flowing through her hair. She was the life of the party. Once, at a family gathering she walked in like she owned the place! She made sure everyone knew she was there. “Hello, I’m here,” she’d call out. She greeted everyone with her beautiful smile and warm hug. Looking back at all she done makes me miss her even more. It makes me sad that I didn’t send enough time with her, but all the stories I’ve heard makes me feel like I did. I visited a friend of hers on my trip to Poland and he told me how she was when she was a young lady. Everyone knew her and vice-versa. Once again I heard how her smile could brighten up a room and her eyes were like stars in the dark sky. I find it strange how I find out so many things about my grandmother after she left this world and I find out in the strangest ways. At my cousin’s step-grandmother’s funeral, a sad time for all of us, with my eyes already full of tears I find out my family aren’t 100% related. My grandmother a lady with a beautiful soul never got married. I suppose when people told me she knew everybody she really knew them! I was in shock and was left speechless! All these mixed emotions started to brew in me like my stomach was a stew. I felt anger, sadness, confusion, and somewhat abandoned. That night and all the nights after that I cried, cried like I never cried before. Those tears weren’t for the people I lost, but the realization that blood doesn’t make you family, love does.

            It’s an honor when I hear that I am so much like my babcia (grandmother.) We’re both filled with cocky jokes, information no one needs (but useful,) and a heart of gold. These days, I realize we are alike, laughing at everything and smiling at anything. I feel like I finally understand he and the decisions she made. She always thought that being sadness was a waste of time because life is short and you shouldn’t be anything, but happy. I suppose she though me that. Smile through the pain, because you can’t have a rainbow without a little rain.