Death is part of the circle of life. It spares nobody. Once you are born, you’re dying, slow but steady. The only thing that one can be sure of in life is that it will end, no matter how much money or happiness you have. I once heard that somebody’s life shouldn’t be measured in years but in happiness. My grandfather past away recently and found out what happens after death. When somebody dies, you look back at the happy moments that you had with them. At the age of 83, he was completely done and couldn’t continue. In the last ten days, his health rapidly decreased and he barely had a will to live. He started breathing heavily and should’ve gone to the hospital but decided to let my grandma take care of him the last couple days instead of fight for his life in the hospital. Fortunately, he died with very little pain. He just didn’t wake up one morning and right before his soul started to fade from his body, he told my grandma what a happy life he had.
It was always hard to spend to with my grandparents. Since I was three months old, I lived far away from most of my family and talking to them was hard. Visiting was even harder.  Both my grandparents where very upset that we lived far away from them but it had to be dealt with. In a way, because I barely saw my grandpa it made the time that we spent together even more special. I especially remember once when I was five and visiting my grandpa and when I walked inside he would always say, wat ben jij groot geworden. The rough translation to English is “you’ve gotten so tall”. At the time, all I wanted to be was big like my dad and grandpa so this always meant a lot to me. I always liked my grandparents house because there was so much to do. There was the lego from when my dad was a child, there was the big garden, a pond, a trampoline but most of all my grandpa was there. When I was at grandpa’s I was always allowed to eat anything that I wanted. My dad would say, “Jaro that is quite enough chocolate.” But my grandpa would always give it to me anyway. He would remind my dad that he was only able to spoil his grandson twice per year. After dinner, we went down to a nearby gas station and bought a box of ice cream. After, we would hurry back and eat them in the backyard on the trampoline. I think that the reason that this memory always sticked with me, is because it was the last time that I would be in that house; not long after, my grandpa broke his leg and three ribs. He had fallen down the stairs. My father decided that it was time to look at a better place to live and within half a year, they sold the house and moved into an apartment.
Another memory that stands out with my grandpa was in Germany. My grandparents decided to visit us to see how we were doing and what life was like of there. At the time, I was seven and when my grandpa saw me again he would say, wat ben jij groot geworden and I would be happy to see my grandpa. My grandpa really liked to garden and it was something that he tried to do as much as his health would let him. He said that our garden could use some serious work, so he decided to give it his attention. Naturally, I wanted to help him. I got the very important job cutting the smaller branches that were sticking out of the hedge. He would give me tips about where to cut the branches and I think that this made us a lot closer. Seeing somebody do what they love can really change your perspective about them and at the time, I started to realize how hard he worked for everything he had and this is what made him happy for such a long time.
Another memory that I had with my grandpa was much more recent. Like I said before, my grandpa always loved to spend time with his grandsons but now that we lived in China it was even harder. I was 13 and started to work at my dad’s cousin’s tulip company and one Saturday, the land was too wet to do anything with so my brother and I were dismissed around the afternoon in the heavy rain. When we got back home from a two minute bike ride, we realized that we were locked out of the house without a phone and in the rain. We were both quite angry. Abel decided to wait until my mom got home which could've taken a while. I decided to look on the bright side and go visit my grandparents. So I got on my bike for 10 minutes and when I was there I realized I needed a key to get in the building. But the fire escape entrance wasn’t too big of a climb so I decided to climb to my grandparents house. I finally got their and rung the door bell and there he was. When he opened the door, it would be the last time he said to me, wat ben jij groot geworden. After, he gave me some of his clothes that barely fit me and my grandma made lunch. I started to tell that things weren’t going great with my grandpa. I could tell that he was getting a lot skinnier and that his health was getting worse. My grandpa started to talk about how he missed his garden and how he couldn’t do what he loved to do anymore. I think that I got my ability to look at the bright side of things came from him. Even though gardening wasn’t an option anymore, he started to play a lot of cards, he finally started reading and biking a lot. I thought to myself that he would be okay with all of his new hobbies.
Life is like a book. With all the different chapters of someones life and experiences and there is always an end to it. My grandpa was one of 14 and the sixth to pass away. All I can do, is remember all the good experiences that I share with him. Even though I am not religious, my grandpa was and I hope for him that he has found all of his brothers and sisters that have gone away before him. Now at least, he has gotten his garden back and can continue doing what he loves to do.