A tattoo on a young woman’s shoulder which she had done to honor her beloved departed grandmother ended up saving her life.
When Gemma Olson was 6, her parents were killed in a car accident and she was left in the care of her mother’s mom, Carina Antonelli. Mrs. Antonelli wasn’t in the best of health and had, in fact, been forced to retire young, but she accepted the new responsibility.
Mrs. Antonelli wasn’t wealthy, but she got by, and there was a little money from Gemma’s parents which she put away for her granddaughter’s education. Mrs. Antonelli was determined to give Gemma a happy childhood despite the tragedy, and she succeeded.
Gemma never imagined her grandmother’s kindness would make her surgery possible | Source. Shutterstock.com
Mrs. Antonelli and Gemma were like peas in a pod, as far as their characters and temperament went, and they understood each other perfectly. But while gran was dark-haired and dark-eyed, Gemma was a blue-eyed blond like her dad.
The two were closer than mother and daughter, closer than best friends because they knew they were all the other had in this world. The only shadow on their happiness was Mrs. Antonelli’s health which only got worse as the years went by.
By the time Gemma was 20, Mrs. Antonelli was very ill. The doctors explained to Gemma that her grandmother suffered from a degenerative disease and that at this stage of her life there was little they could do except make her last days as comfortable as possible.
Knowing that their time was short, Gemma took a break from college and spent every waking moment with her grandmother. Mrs. Antonelli clung to her grandaughter’s hands at the last moments and gave her one last sweet smile. Then her eyes closed, and Gemma knew she was alone in the world.
Mrs Antonelli took care of Gemma after her parents passed away | Source: Unsplash
The funeral was agony for Gemma who felt forced to smile at the endless line of people who came to say goodbye to her grandmother. All she wanted to do was scream, and cry. She wanted to be alone with her memories, to remember every detail, to make sure she’d never forget.
That night, she turned on the radio to kill the silence of her gran’s absence, sat on the floor of their living room, and opened the family albums. One by one she looked at...
