Veronia+M’s+Final+AmEx+2013+Speech

=Title of Speech=

"17 Years"
=Text of Speech=

On May 4th, 2013, Claire Jurgensen took me home from the SAT. We pulled up to the curb in front of my house; my mom’s car still sat in the driveway, which was unusual since she told me that she would be visiting my Nana in Camarillo. I walked into the house, and she greeted me softly. I knew something was amiss. She put an arm around my shoulder and said, “I have some bad news.” She immediately choked up and said, her voice breaking, “Grandpa died. I’m so sorry.” I was stunned. I must’ve misheard her, surely.

I hadn’t.

My grandpa had died in his sleep the previous night. It all seemed like some horrible nightmare. I excused myself to my room and cried for a few hours. I felt lethargic all day. A mound of homework laid neglected on the floor, but I couldn’t touch it. We went to my grandma’s, who actually lives up the hill from here. All of us sat in the living room: my parents, my brother, my aunts and uncles, and my grandma everyone, except one very important person. It was a morbid twist on a family gathering.

My grandpa’s death was unexpected, and I am honoring him through this AMEX speech. My grandpa was a great man: a loving husband and father to his wife and four kids, a wonderful grandfather to 10 grandchildren, and an active member to the Long Beach, Santa Paula and Ventura communities. He valued knowledge, humor, patience, faith, and love, values that are dear to my own heart.

17 years. 17 beautiful years that I spent with him. 17 years of mini golf, corny jokes, games of tag and soccer in the backyard; 17 years of scenic drives in his big red van that was always too hot and had a container of peanuts lying around; 17 years of birthdays, communions, graduations, and a 50 year anniversary. 17 years, too short, yet much longer than others get.

As I move forward in my life, I will take the lessons that I learned from him and apply them to everything I do. My grandpa valued an education, so I will learn as much as I can; he loved to read, so I will bury myself in pages and drink in words; he was a fireman, so I will act with courage in times of fear; he was humorous, so I will laugh everyday to banish my inner demons away; he loved unconditionally, so I too will love others unconditionally and wholeheartedly.

What is the America I want to see? The America I want to see is an America where every child can know and love their grandparents like I have. A future where every child can receive their grandparents’ wisdom and be enveloped in their grandparents’ love. A grandparent reaches out to their grandchild in a way that no one else will be able to. A grandparent is a connection to the past and a platform for the future. Every child should know and love a grandparent, whether it be 10, 17, or even 20 years. The America I see is filled with the love of grandchildren and grandparents, the same kind of love that my grandpa and I shared, and that I will carry on forever.

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