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I can just remember our anual holiday "get together". We were having a great time just like the past years. Long behold we didn't know that this would be our last family "get together"we would have with our great grandparents. It was a very happy time of the year, you could see everybody enjoying themselves, eating their portions of foods, and talking to family members. I wasn't that close to my great grandparents, but I wish I was after "it happened". I could remember my great grandmothers voice, so small but peaceful, she was very petite. I miss her so much as well as my great grandfather. He was my grandpas step father, you could always get a kick out of him. He made these funny barks that my brother cousins and I couldn't stand not to laugh at. I wish we knew it was coming so we could really say good-bye. I don't remember much about them other than that, but I do remember their house, it was very large, with many different floors. I also remember the person that helped them around, Anna, she loved me and I got a kick out of her.

I could remember her say "Stevie...oh, ah he boy! haha!"

I would laugh back "haha...yea, yea, yea! haha."

I loved Anna, and I could tell she loved me. I saw her down the shore this summer, it really made me happy. It made me feel as if I were more importaint than an emporer. Although it was great when I went to the beach after we saw her it started to rain, I was so cold I could freeze!

Now we were just entering the month of January. The water was frozen, there was beatuiful pure white snow on the ground, it was as cold as ice even if you were standing in the sun. New Year's was only a few days ago, we had so much fun at all of the parties that we went to for the holidays like Christmas, New Years, and our annual gingerbread party. We went to my great grandparents house, like we always did, maybe once or twice a month. My cousins were there along with my brother and I, we were playing in the snow. As soon as my cousins car crawled through the snow into the driveway, I was so glad.

As soon as they got out of the car I blurted "Heya guys"

"Hi Steven," my eldest cousin Kevin said, "How are you doin'?"

"Pretty good, thanks for askin', how are you?"

"Same," my other cousin Kimberlee spoke in a small voice

We all had a snowball fight in the yard for a while, we also built snow forts. My cousin refused to get "out" so I tried to make her stop, so I yelled, "Stop raining over the parade!"

Well, maybe I like to make people sad!" she exclaimed.

We all got pretty angry from her little "stunt", but, it was extremely cold outside, so we went in the house to get some hot chocolate. When we got inside there was a fresh scent of coffee, which my parents were drinking. We asked for some hot chocolate;

"M-m-mom, I shivered quickly, ca-ca-can w-we h-have s-some ho-hot ch-ch-chocolate pl-please?"

"Oh, gosh your so cold, sure"

We all drank the creamy, chocolaty goodness and got really warm inside, as if we were the sun.

We all played in the attic, the attic was very large. It had 3 floors just there! First, you would walk up stairs to get to the it. You them would walk up another set of steps to get to the 2nd floor of the attic, and finally you walk up another ladder type stairway to where we played. Every time we went there we waited to go in the attic. It was so fun to play in there--even though it was a bit dangerous on the top floor of it.

About three months later we all went to my grandparents house. We were celebrating my aunt and I's birthdays. My great grandparents came over, they were looking pretty good, we wouldn't have even thought that they would pass away in a few months. We celebrated our birthdays, we had cake and the adults had coffee. We "caught up" with each other, and once we were done we exchanged our good-byes. When we walked outside it was a warm early summer night, the sky was glistining with stars. I was trying to find a constilation or two, but I didn't have any luck. When we got in the car we discussed a few things and then went home.

It was late August, warm and humid day just like the others. We got a phone call saying that my great grandfather passed away. It was pretty emotional, we went to the funeral a few days later. There was a big ceramony, going around Madison, past Waverly TV the buisness he started that now my dad owns.

A few weeks later we got another call, in the beginning of September. It was cool, leaves were and falling. The phone wouldn't shut up it just went ring, rang, roong, rong, reng, until my dad picked it up

"Hello..."

"Oh, gosh"

"I didn't think she would too"

"Oh, that's a shame"

"Well, we'll be there on Saturday, thank you for calling, buh-buy"

We went to her funeral early Saturday morning, it was very emotional. Especially for my grandfather, he was very sad, as well as everyone else. It was even more emotional seeing my great grandmother go, because she was the only great grandparent I had left. I can remember the day like it was yesterday. School was just about to start, it was a bit chilly out, but you could get away without using a coat. We went to the wake, I kept going up to her, and just staring, wishing it never happened, or at least that we had one more year with them. Afterwards we went to the funeral, it was getting colder by then. My little cousin wanted a dummy cell phone so we stopped to get him one. I thought it would be nice. As we were driving to funeral I saw a woman that looked exactly like my great grandmother, and she waved to me. I got the creeps and thought WOW! That woman is a dead ringer for my great grandmother. I didn't know if it was just my imagination, someone who happened to look like her, or I saw HER across the street from my car.

When we finished the wake all I could think about was that woman. She looked so much like my great-grandmother. Almost like a twin of her. A few days later we unfortunately had to put these thoughts in the back of our minds, and get back to our everyday lives. When we went to our annual party after Christmas, it wasn't the same. Our great-grandparents, we realized then, helped the family get together. We did our "routine" saying "hey, howya doing?" or " how's it going?" I wish I could go back in time and change what happened to them. I wish I could've said something to them, have a small conversation, something that would be a last memorandum.

It's a sweet treat, to eat the meat at the holiday party every year. It is now 2008, and I had just gone to my last holiday party. I just realized at that party that when someone looses their life, it hurts other people around you. This is something I've been thinking since the last get together, and I feel it is really important.

"Hey Steve, come on" Frank said, "You've been telling this story for about 20 minutes"

"Sorry, I didn't realize how important playing basketball was to you" I blurted rudely, " JUST KIDDING, haha.

"Alright lets go"

"Wait! One more thing, that's when DEATH came.