Grandparents could easily be the friends you never knew you needed. The side-kicks. The ones you can laugh evilly at your parents with. The ones who would do everything in their power to give you everything you wish, to hold you, to love you, to protect you. Of course, this situation isn't available to all people around the world, unfortunately.
I've been lucky enough to grow with all my 4 grandparents around me, no joke. They all did their best to raise me well, to protect me from the bad deeds, to show me the right path, even though they should've learned something from me, as well. When you're a kid, you can't help but feel elated to see so much attention given to you for free; you're in love with the idea that you'll always have someone to rely on, that you'll always have someone to come to when things don't go accordingly. When you're a kid, life is easy and there's nothing wrong; you focus on playing games, drawing, socializing with other kids, eventually do your homework (eventually).
But then, you become a pre-teen, you age up and start thinking that grandparents are just too old for this world, and they don't understand anything. You become distant from your family, you lose yourself for a few years, and you eventually get even more lost during your teenage years. Yay. Happily for me, that hasn't been the case. In my teenage years, I've spent more time with my family, I've found a balance between family and friends, I've found happiness, peace, and stress at the same time. It's one hell of chaos, this period of time.
And then, suddenly, you realize you're 18, 19, or, if you're lucky, even older than that, and you notice that your grandmother has been feeling ill lately, or that your dad's father has been unable to move or think clearly. And then...poof. Gone. And you start wondering where people go after they die, what happens after that - is there an after? Right on, all the memories of your childhood come flooding back to you and you realize that you should've spent more time with them, should've called them more often. You start to have regrets. You know you'll never see them again, you'll never be able to talk to them or hear their voice and you'll wonder how it would have been if you had sat down with them at lunch instead of browsing through Instagram and saying you're not hungry. You just question everything; every little possibility and chance in your life. And you realize how life is now slowing down for anyone and you feel sad and helpless because you just then realize you should change something...
But what is that something?
This is my call to all of you who still have grandparents around. Call them. Pay them a visit every now and then. They only have us, and all they're left with are memories and happy days with their kids and grandkids. Spend Christmas with them. Put your phone down for a while and ask how they have been lately.
Time isn't stopping for any of us, and most of us realize we should've spent more time with someone when it's too late.
So...Cherish your grandparents while they are still alive. Talk to them, treat them kindly, stop being so impatient because they're just not that good with technology (you weren't born a master, either).
Photo: https://unsplash.com/photos/y0OAmd_COUM