Hard to believe but I had never experienced death. I had seen my friends go through it, but as I sat there looking at my grandma in the casket, I felt so strange. It was such a surreal feeling to think that I had just seen her a few days before, talked to her, eaten lunch with her-and now she was gone. She lay there so still, just a shell of herself. I understood death but still struggled with the concept that I would never see her again, never hear her voice again, never feel her arms around me to hug me again. I realized at that moment there in the funeral home just how precious life is and how I needed to appreciate each and every moment.