Grandma is with the Angels

He didn't look her in the face, but instead looked straight ahead as if he could see a thousand miles down the street. His eyes were watery as if he were about to cry.

After a quick hi, he said, "Grandma went to the doctor today to get her cough checked out."

"Yeah?" Vicky replied. She wanted him to hurry up because she knew something was wrong.

"The doctor said she has cancer and she's in the hospital right now. We're going to visit her."

Vicky was twelve years old. She only knew one thing about cancer, which meant her grandma was going to die. That scared her to death.

It was Vicky's first time she could remember stepping foot in a hospital and when her father told the nurse her grandma's name, the nurse in her all-white gown directed them to her hospital room. Her father also told her that her grandma would only be in there for a couple of days so the doctors can do some testing. Vicky went into the room where her grandma was coughing a lot and she could tell she was struggling to catch her breath.

"Are you okay?" Vicky asked.

"Yes. I'm just a little sick. That's all." Even with her illness, she still managed to hold a smile.

Two days later, Vicky's grandma was out of the hospital but things weren't the same as before. The doctor gave her a list of foods she wasn't allowed to eat. All in all, she couldn't eat any solid foods, only jello, pudding, soup broth or other foods that can be liquified.

For months on end, Vicky and her grandpa would make her liquid meals and hot tea to stop the coughing. It was an early October when she was about to start her chemotherapy. That was when she was suddenly admitted into ICU (Intensive Care Unit) due to abnormal heart murmurs. This was not a good sign.

On this day at ICU, a priest was present at her grandma's bedside. Her grandma's family was there, including Vicky and her grandma's two other grandchildren, her husband, two sons, daughter-in-law, sister and brother-in-law. The family was in the waiting room while the doctors were working on getting her heart rate back to normal. There was a lot of tension in the waiting room as the doctors told Vicky's father and uncle to leave her grandma's room.

It wasn't until five minutes later when Vicky's uncle walked slowly into the waiting room with his index finger and thumb pressed against his eyelids to stop the tears. Her father walked in behind him teary-eyed and it was obvious he was holding back a lot of sadness. Her aunt went to hug my uncle as her grandma's family cried about this heartache and loss that will never be erased from their memories.

The family member who was closest to Vicky was her Aunt Celia who was her grandma's sister. She was probably the strongest lady in that waiting room. As she sniffled with Vicky in her arms Aunt Celia told her something that she will never forget:

"Grandma is with the angels." Yes, she was and now she was able to finally rest in peace.