One of the definitions of strength is the emotional or mental qualities necessary in dealing with situations or events that are distressing or difficult. At a time in my life I could not find my strength, in fact, I thought I didn’t have any. One day, my grandfather told me that no matter what I did, he didn’t want me to settle for being ordinary, he did not want me to throw away the gifts that I was given. He wanted me to be great. When I was young, my grandfather took on the role of my second father. He taught me how to tie my shoes, how to ride my bike and most importantly, he taught me how to play tennis. My grandpa didn’t really play tennis, but when he saw how happy it made me and how much I loved it, he immediately wanted to make me into a tennis player. For the longest time, I couldn’t seem to learn and I often doubted myself and my abilities and I used to tell him that I would never be good enough and then he told me something I’ll never forget, he said “I don’t care how many times you fail, as long as you never stop trying”.
On an ordinary winter day, my grandpa picked my brother and I up to go to his house to shovel snow. Except the thing was, my grandpa was hiding something from us. I could tell that he wasn’t well, but he was so stubborn and persevered as he attempted to shovel the snow. After a while, he laid down in the snow and told us that he was going to nap. Later that afternoon, I got a call from my grandma. He was dead. Have you ever felt so hopeless and alone that you feel your heart shatter like glass as it hits the floor? Yeah, that’s how I felt.
As my family walked away from the casket, my hands trembled as I stood alone. I remember kneeling down and placing my lips on the soft wood of the casket as I put a rose on it, I then went on to say “you told me to not give up, I never will”.
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