Extra Credit

            Ever wondered what it would be like if someone you grew to love, spend endless amounts of time, and learned many life lessons from would just completely forget whom you were? Conner’s grandpa had been experiencing signs of dementia around his eighth grade to freshman year of high school. He never really thought much of it, he just thought that his grandpa would forget common things like where he left his keys or questions he had recently asked. This turned out to not be the case. Around Conner’s sophomore year of high school his grandpa had full-blown Alzheimer’s. Still not really understanding the situation, Conner went to visit his grandpa at the nursing home he lived in. When Conner got to the nursing home with his aunt, they went upstairs to greet him. When they got to his room and went inside his grandpa had completely forgotten who the both of them were. Conner’s grandpa looked at his grandson as if he was a complete stranger whom he had never met. His grandpa had reached such a bad point that he barely even recognized his own kids. Shortly after living in the nursing he had to be moved into Conner’s aunts house because he would forget to eat. Conner never realized that any of this could happen. It was a very sad process to see his grandfather at family parties and not being able to talk to anyone because he didn’t know who they were anymore. Everyday was a struggle for Conner and his whole entire family. But from this comes a great lesson to be learned by Conner. He realized that no matter how bad things can get, you must always be appreciative of your family, friends, and things you have. One day everything may change and we must be ready for this. Conner learned that he must never take things for granted and must realize that the grass is always greener on the other side.