FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM DECEMBER 5, 2019 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 73
vschneps@gmail.com
As an adoring grandmother,
I asked 13-yearold
Blake, my oldest grandson,
what he was working
on in his English class. I was
amazed by his response.
Blake had been assigned to
read “Th e Five People I’d
Like to Meet in Heaven,”
by Mitch Albom, a former
reporter at a Queens newspaper
and award-winning
author of “Tuesdays with
Morrie.”
Blake’s assignment was to
write about fi ve people he
would want to meet in heaven.
I’m sharing with you his
insightful writing. Enjoy!
Th ose were the last minutes
that I spent on Earth,
and that marked the beginning
of my journey to heaven.
Th e fi rst thing I saw aft er
everything went black was
an angel in a beautiful park,
fi lled with all diff erent color
fl owers and trees. Th e angel
told me that there are fi ve
people that you meet in
heaven and that each
person would have a
lesson for me. Aft er
I heard that, I was
immediately interested
as to who they
would be. Th e angel
said “goodbye” and
that was the last time
I saw it.
I blinked and I was
transported to a busy
street in what looked
like the city, fi lled
with people and cars.
As I was walking down
the street, I noticed that it
looked familiar. I stopped to
think about where I knew
this place from. About a minute
later, I realized that it was
my Grandma Vicki’s offi ce
building. I opened the offi ce
door from the street and
started to walk up the steep
stairs in the very narrow corridor.
Once up the stairs, I
People to meet
in Heaven
went through the door and
entered the offi ce building.
I saw dozens of busy offi ce
workers, as I felt a tap on my
shoulder. I turned to see a
young lady with long brown
hair. She told me that there
is someone here to see
me and leads me to a
private offi ce. Sitting
at her desk, with the
phone to her ear is
my mom’s mom, my
Grandma Vicki!
Once my grandma
saw me she dropped
the phone, ran to me,
gave me a hug and said
“I’ve been waiting for you,
I’m your fi rst person!” She
told me to sit down and that
she had something to tell me.
I prepared for the worst.
She then said, “I have a very
important thing to tell you.
Hard work pays off . Look at
me, I’ve worked almost my
whole life. I started a charity
for people with developmental
disabilities, I started
a newspaper on my living
room couch, and today
I now own over fi ft y newspapers
and I raised four kids
with my oldest having developmental
disabilities.”
When thinking about her
words I realized that If you
work hard in life, you can
achieve anything you put
your mind to. She was in this
offi ce because this is where
she spent most of her time
working. She was a very hard
working lady.
I blinked once and
when I opened my
eyes, I no longer saw
my grandma’s offi ce,
but instead I was
standing in front of
a gorgeous restaurant.
It was very
modern, with both
indoor and outdoor
seating. It had a
wood fi nish with huge
windows showing the
inside. I entered and saw a
familiar face seating customers.
It was my dad’s dad, my
Papa Steve.
When it was my turn to
be seated he saw me he said
“Hello Blake, I’ve been waiting
for you, I am your second
person.”
He sat me down at a table
and said that he would be
right back. He came back
with a water and a gigantic
burger, it smelled so
good and looked delicious.
It was on a nice toasted sesame
bun with juice running
down the side. He
said to me, “Blake listen,
sometimes risks
don’t end up well. I
was very successful
on Wall Street, and
I decided to open
a new restaurant.
I spent so much
money on making
it look good and
boy it did do just that,
but I had to close a few
years later because there
wasn’t enough profi ts coming
through the door. I lost
so much so fast.”
When thinking about
his words, I realized
that sometimes it
isn’t always benefi
cial to take
a major risk
and that you
should put a
lot of thought
into it. My
Papa was here
because he
worked in restaurants
for many
years. Restaurants were
his joy and passion. Th e last
time I saw him I was sitting
in front of him eating lunch.
I blinked and I was no longer
sitting in front of my
Papa, but I was on a very
quiet road in what looked to
be the suburbs.
Th at’s when a little girl,
maybe seven years old said,”I
see you’re lost, and I think
I know why.” I followed her
through three long hallways
and up fi ve fl ights of stairs.
She stopped at one classroom
on the top fl oor and she told
me to go inside of it. When I
opened the door sitting at her
teachers desk was my dad’s
Blake Sohmer
mom, my Grandma Susan.
Once she saw me at the door,
she ran to me and said “I’m
your fourth person!” She
cleared a desk and moved it
so that we could sit next to
each other.
She said “Patience is everything,
if you don’t have it you
must get it or you shouldn’t
be in that situation.” She went
on to say, “Sometimes what
a person needs is not a brilliant
mind that speaks, but a
patient heart that listens.” My
grandma was telling me this
because she worked with tons
of students who needed tons
of extra help, as a teacher.
Th is included students that
either barely spoke or didn’t
speak any English.
When thinking about her
words I realized that if you
don’t have any patience, then
you are lacking a very important
life skill. She was here
because she was a teacher
for over thirty fi ve years and
helped hundreds upon hundreds
of students grow as students
and helped them enjoy
school.
Read more on QNS.com
and next week in print.
VICTORIA’S
SECRETS
Victoria
SCHNEPSYUNIS
tweet me @vschneps
Steve Sohmer
Susan Sohmer
Vicki
Schneps
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