Last Words
Narrative Essay
Her last words will live forever with me.
The night before my grandmother died we said our last good-byes in hopes that she would rest in peace knowing that we loved her. I had known her for 35 years, and in those 35 years we had become extremely close. She was not only a grandmother to me but also a friend and a confidant. I feared the day that I would have to deal with the pain and the realization of losing her. Although I knew that day was coming, I didn’t want to let her go. She passed away almost ten years ago, in October, but it still feels like yesterday that I was standing over her deathbed and telling her that I loved her for the last time. I am just now coming to grips with the pain and loss I feel when I think of her.
My family and I were sitting down at home having dinner, and we received a phone call. My mother answered the phone. It was a nurse calling from “Saint Francis Medical Hospital”, where my grandmother was a patient in intensive care unit (ICU), also known as a critical care unit (CCU). The nurse said to my mother, “Fermina is not doing very well and she might not make it through the night. You and your family might want to come and say your “good-byes.” My mother’s tan face turned pale white, and tears began to fill her deep brown eyes. She looked as though someone had punched her in the gut, as a long tear came down her face and a look of fear and sadness had over taken her to a different world. After she got off the phone she was shaking like a naked child on a cold night. Through great gasps of breath she filled the family in on what was going on. My mother was very upset to drive so I had to drive to the hospital. We wanted to be by my grandmother side. In silence we reached our destination, and I was extremely hesitant to go in because I knew what I had to face. I was afraid of death, of losing my grandmother.
When I found enough courage to at least enter the hospital ICU unit, I felt
Her last words will live forever with me.
The night before my grandmother died we said our last good-byes in hopes that she would rest in peace knowing that we loved her. I had known her for 35 years, and in those 35 years we had become extremely close. She was not only a grandmother to me but also a friend and a confidant. I feared the day that I would have to deal with the pain and the realization of losing her. Although I knew that day was coming, I didn’t want to let her go. She passed away almost ten years ago, in October, but it still feels like yesterday that I was standing over her deathbed and telling her that I loved her for the last time. I am just now coming to grips with the pain and loss I feel when I think of her.
My family and I were sitting down at home having dinner, and we received a phone call. My mother answered the phone. It was a nurse calling from “Saint Francis Medical Hospital”, where my grandmother was a patient in intensive care unit (ICU), also known as a critical care unit (CCU). The nurse said to my mother, “Fermina is not doing very well and she might not make it through the night. You and your family might want to come and say your “good-byes.” My mother’s tan face turned pale white, and tears began to fill her deep brown eyes. She looked as though someone had punched her in the gut, as a long tear came down her face and a look of fear and sadness had over taken her to a different world. After she got off the phone she was shaking like a naked child on a cold night. Through great gasps of breath she filled the family in on what was going on. My mother was very upset to drive so I had to drive to the hospital. We wanted to be by my grandmother side. In silence we reached our destination, and I was extremely hesitant to go in because I knew what I had to face. I was afraid of death, of losing my grandmother.
When I found enough courage to at least enter the hospital ICU unit, I felt