When I think about the past, everything is a blank space and I can't remember anything, but now with trying to think back into my past to re-discover an event that I learned from, is even harder. As I recall back into my memory, only one memory sticks out that I have deep inside my heart.
The day was Saturday, the day after my grandparents moved out of their old two-story apartment to a new one-story modern apartment, my mother was home working and my little brother, Cody, and I were playing enjoying our breakfast watching some TV. My mom heavily pounds down the stairs and starts to say,
“So, I have an idea…”
“What now, mom?” Cody said with a sigh, I could tell he already knew what we were going to do.
“Let’s take Mema and Papa out for lunch after we help them grocery shop!” She said.
“Sounds awesome! I want to see how Mema and Papa like the new place.” I said shoving in a piece of toast.
“Okay, I’ll go call Mema.” She finished and walked into her room. Then Cody shot me a look of regret.
“We better now spend our whole Sunday with them.” He said.
“Come on, Cody. God Forbid, they will die soon, we have to spend time with them when the time is given. We may never see them again, so you better appreciate this time.” I said. Honestly, this is how Cody was. This stage of his life he loved video games. He had to play them all day. I stood up and walked up the stairs into my room, while Cody thought about what he said. I put on some black sweatpants, a blue shirt and a sweatshirt and was downstairs in a matter of seconds, Cody still eating his breakfast. Then, Mom came out with another remark for Cody,
“Cody! You’re not even dressed! Let's go! Otherwise we’re leaving you and you can explain to Mema why you didn’t go!”
“Okay, Mom, don’t yell at me!”   as he sighed to get up.
“Mom! I’ll go start the car!” I yelled to her. Just so we could leave when my mom and brother were done with their stuff. I walked into the kitchen and out into the garage. I walked down two steps and felt the dryness of air flow through the garage. I walked to my mom’s car and opened it, grabbed the keys, and started it up, with a few seconds of waiting, the engine roared. I then shut the door and walked back inside.
“Mom! Car’s started!” I yelled.
“Okay, thank you! We’ll be down in a minute!” A faint reply. After a minute of waiting, we were in the car and driving to the new apartment.
“Yea..Okay..Alrighty...Bye bye. So that was Mema. She said they just went grocery shopping and said that they would like Culver's. Is that okay boys?”
“Sure is.” I say.
“Yea..” again, Cody sighs. “I wanted pizza or breadsticks.”
“I know bud, but you have that every day.” After about 5 minutes of driving we finally arrived and my grandparents were just emptying their trunk full of groceries. My mom parks the car and we all hop out.
“Mema!” I say and I walk to her and give her a kiss.
“Hi sweetheart.” She says.
“Hi mema.” Cody says.
“Well hello there.” She says and gives Cody a kiss.
“Hi mother.” My mom says.
“Hello.” and Mema give my mom a kiss.“Well we have a problem.”
“What is that?” I asked.
“Papa doesn’t want to go anymore. We got into an argument.”
“Cody and AJ, see if you can get him to go.”
“Okay.” I said and began to walk to the building with Cody. We walked inside, and walked upstairs to their room, 333. I knocked on the door and opened it, and walked into the living room.
“Hey Papa.” I said.
“Hi, Boys.” He replied.
“HI Papa.” Cody said.
“So, would you like to come to lunch with us?” I asked standing in front of him.
“No, no thanks boys.”
“Oh, come on!” Cody said.
“No Boys.”
“Is it because of what happened with Mema?” Papa began to cry.
“We are a…*sniffle* married couple for so... *sniffle*   many years and we’ve never… *sniffle* had this bad of an argument! That time I wanted to jump out of the car and kill myself!” After I heard that, this was not going to turn out well.
“Stay here and watch Papa!”  I yelled and Cody and I then ran back to tell Mema and my Mom.
This was the only memory that I can remember where I learned something and this is pretty important to me. The way that memory ended up was a nice lunch at Culver’s and everyone was calm and relaxed. We took them home afterward and said they were fine. Now these were the only grandparents I had left. My Dad’s father died when I was born, I never got to see him until we cleaned out their house, the pictures were the only thing I had left of him, my grandpa I never saw. Now my other grandma was alive when I was born, but the only thing I remember is seeing her pass away in the hospital. It was one of the worst feelings seeings to see someone die in front of your eyes. I only knew her for about 6 years, but 4 of those I was still learning the world. Now the only grandparents I had left where on my mom’s side, Mema and Papa, and I hoped I would not lose them either. I already lost two grandparents, I was not about to lose more. I know what it felt like to lose a loved one, and all I want now that I’m older is to spend more time with my Dad’s parents, see what stories they could tell me, what they could share, and how they would take care of me, but I never had the chance to get that. Now that these were my only grandparents, they did that to me, I was taken care of, all the stories they’d share, everything was perfect. What I learned from this event is to spend as much time with your grandparents as you can, you never know what can happen to them in the next few years, and while I would sit at home and mind my own business, I could’ve spent more time with my grandparents. Now my window is shorter, two grandparents left and above 80 years old. I want to remember everything we did with my grandparents and not only have one memory. You spend as much time as you have, and make sure it’s worth it, because they’ll love it, and you’ll feel like you did the right thing. Remembering everything you did with them, and now you don’t have the excuse of “I don’t remember anything.” you spent so much time with them that that excuse should be discarded. In the end, I cherish every moment, every hour, every minute, every second I spend with my grandparents, you never know when the good times could end.