"Life's too short, eat dessert first!" --Grandpa Chuck

I was little when my Grandpa Chuck passed away, unfortunately I vaguely remember him... but I love him. My family always tells me stories about him, they say he was a kind and generous man. My grandma says he is the best man she has ever known and loved. He used to say "Life's short, eat dessert first!" a phrase that I say every time I eat ice cream before dinner or for breakfast. It's not that life is short it's that it just feels like it goes by so fast. I know he is proud of me for taking this opportunity. I am "eating my dessert first" which is gelato (get it because I am going to Italy). I will be on a plane to Europe in about seven hours and you know what? This trip isn't just for me it's for my family that worked so hard to get me where I am, it's for my friends that live in lower/middle class families like me, it's for everyone who didn't believe in me, it's for my great grandpa who told our family to eat dessert first, it's for my community that supported me, and it's for my mom who spent her teenage years raising me and her youth taking care of a family and a husband who is kicking cancer's ASS. My mom is a phenomenal woman and I love her and I am thankful that God blessed me with such a great mom, an amazing family, and everyone in between.