My grandfather became my entire world after I lost my parents in a house fire when I was just one year old. I don’t remember that night, but everyone told me how my 67-year-old grandpa ran back into the burning house to save me. From that moment on, he raised me alone. Grandpa packed my school lunches, learned how to braid hair from YouTube, and showed up to every school event. He was my grandpa, my mom, my dad—everything. Whenever I got nervous about school dances, he would move the kitchen chairs aside and say, “Come on, kiddo.
A lady should always know how to dance.” He’d always finish with the same joke: “When your prom comes, I’ll be the most handsome date there.” Three years ago, Grandpa suffered a major stroke and was left in a wheelchair. Even then, he still supported me at every important moment in my life. So when prom season arrived, I asked him to be my date.
