Pa..

This is my way of saying thank you to my great- grandpa. I am going to present an award to him that is very important to me. I am going to present him with the hero award. This award goes to me great-grandpa Albert Ray Roper. This award is given to him because he was my hero and inspiration. I want to grow up and be like him in so many ways. There are several things I will remember about my Pa. He always had a STRONG love for his country. He was willing to die on the stop for it. Another thing is that he had a lot of love for his family. If you ever needed him, he would drop what he was doing and come to help you. Love was a huge part of his life and that was really important to him. He had to go through so much in his life and I think that it made him a stronger person in more than one way. My Pa had to go through five of his nine children dying. When I talk to my grandmom about she says that that was the hardest thing for him as it would be for anybody. My Pa died on September 7, 2010. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was on my way home from volleyball practice and we were taking Ellie home. After we dropped her off and I knew something was wrong. It was just my mom and I in the car and turned to her and said mom what’s wrong, I know something is wrong. She said that my pa had died in grandmoms arms at 12:00 that day. I broke down. Even though we were all expecting it, knowing that he was gone was too much for me to handle. The mood of my house changed for a long time. You may think oh it’s just your great- grandpa, but to me, no he was more than that. He was my other papaw. He had cancer all over his body and was always in pain. It’s hard to think about but I know that he is in heaven with no pain and seeing his family and sitting so me where loving on my granny. They were married for 73 years. He died first and I couldn't watch my granny lay on the bed missing him that much. It was too hard. I wanted to cry every time I looked at her. The main reason my Pa gets this award is because through everything he went through he still kept his faith i n God and to me, shows a real man of God. Yes, it is still hard to go back to Harlan and not make our visit to see them or be able to hear him say "Hey there Britt"! every time I walked in their house, but I know where he is and I know that September 5 was not the last time I was going to hear him say Hey Britt. I will be seeing him again and when I know I will not see him the same way I did, September 5, 2010. He will be strong and healthy. That is why he gets the hero award. To this day, it still hurts. I know that when I go to Harlan to visit, I can’t go and visit him. I want to just walk in the house just one more time but I can’t. Every time my family and I go to visit family in Harlan, we always drive by his old house. In some ways it’s hard and sad, but it also brings back good memories that I remember I had with him. I miss him so much.