Holifaves

I’m not sure if Breast Cancer Awareness Day is technically a holiday, but to me it is.

Breast Cancer Awareness Day is possibly the most influential day of my life, my grandmother was the biggest influence in my life and passed away of it when I was only three years old. Some people may question how I even remember this, but my parents were already divorced, so I looked to my grandparents as almost parent figures in my life. My grandmother was my favorite, we did make up, baked and played dress up together and of course she spoiled me, I was a grandmothers girl and she was my best friend growing up. Sitting in the hospital rooms making pictures for her, thinking that the art I made with my cousins, all of our get well cards, everything, we just thought it would make her better, we thought it would bring back our grammy to us. My last memory of her is brushing her teeth with almost a sponge on a stick in the hospital, then I remember her being gone. I went through a lot of struggles my senior year of High School, I struggled with depression, self harm and self esteem and image issues, but I always felt like she was there, that she was on my side. I knew that the fight I was fighting to get through this was not only for  me, but it was also for her. She wished for me and my cousins to apply to Sweet Briar college and to attend there, I went there and visited and applied and got accepted, even though I didn’t go there, I felt like I made her smile by just doing that for her. When I turned 18, I also got a tattoo. I got “Believe” with a breast cancer image which is showed below, I got it in memory of her. She taught me to believe in myself and everything I do, and to believe in the fight, never give up, no matter what it is.

So to me, Breast Cancer Awareness Day is a holiday. It’s a day where I remember everything good about her, all she influenced me, how she’s smiling down on me, I remember the legacy of the amazing women I not only got to call my grandmother, but my best friend in the entire world.