I have lived with my grandma almost all of my life. My parents passed away when I was only two years old and she took me in to care for me. Over the years, she has always been there for me.
I know I mean a lot to her too, so last year, when I had to leave home to live on campus during my first year of university, I knew she would be lonely without me. I wanted to come up with something special that would remind her of me while I was away.
A few weeks before I had to leave for school, I gathered all the photos of me and of my life that I could find, and I created a collage of pictures, trying to capture the bond between us. I included a picture of grandma holding me when I was an infant, one of both of us eating ice cream when I was six, a picture of me riding my first bike and a picture of us sipping lemonade when I was 14.
On the day I left, I presented her with the collage and I knew she loved it. She said nothing but I saw a couple of tears roll down her cheek as she looked at each image. Together, we put it up on the wall in the kitchen, where she likes to spend most of her time. When I call, she always talks about how she loves to show the collage off to her friends.