As Lauren Blank’s 16th birthday crept nearer and nearer, her grandfather Ron Petrillo frantically tried to finish her gift. He had 10 years to work on it and even now, he felt that it needed more work.

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The simple idea had come to him when Lauren was only 2 years old and now when the time to give her this life-changing gift was here, Ron wondered if he made the right choice. Should he have listened to everyone and just bought his granddaughter a car? It was only when Lauren opened the gift did Rob have the answer to this question.

A Simple Teenager

The 15-year-old was a true small-town girl and loved it. Lauran or Ren as she likes to be called grew up in Keller, Texas, a small town of around 45,000 people. She had a good group of friends and loved spending time with her family.

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And as she grew up, her simple values only got reassured. For her 16th birthday, Ren had requested to have a small dinner with her family and friends. She specifically asked everyone to not buy her any gifts and wanted only their company.

The Right Time

When Ren’s grandfather, Ron heard of this idea he knew that this was the right time to present her with his long-planned gift. He had been working on it for years but never knew when to give it to her.

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But now with Ren displaying so much maturity, Ron knew that this birthday was the right time to give her the gift. He called Ren to confirm his attendance at the dinner and started putting the final touches on his project.

A Deep Bond

You see, the two were very close, more than usual. Ron credits their bond to the time they spent together when Ren was younger. When she was only 2 years old, her parents would leave her at her grandpa’s home while both of them worked.

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This went on till Ren was 5 years old and both he and his granddaughter truly cherished this time together. The two of them spent most days playing made-up games and going on daily adventures.

Busy Life

But of course, this was many many years ago and as Ren had gotten older, she got busier and the pair saw less of each other. That didn’t mean that their bond have weakened but it did make it hard for them to make new memories.

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Ron was 72 years now and he knew that he was coming to the end of his long and full life. And before the inevitable happened, the devoted grandfather knew that he needed to give Ren her gift and that too quickly.

Perfect Timing

Now that Ren was turning 16, Ron felt that she could really appreciate the gift he had spent so much time creating. He knew that his granddaughter might not remember all the adventures they had when she was younger and this gift would be the perfect way to remind her about them.

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And with Ren specifically requesting an easy-going birthday party, the simple gift would be the perfect addition to her big day. So, Ron opened his desk drawer and started putting the finishing touches on his long project.

A Secret

The loving grandfather knew in his heart that this was the best birthday present he had ever given Ren but since he had kept the whole idea a secret, even from Ren’s parent’s doubts started to creep in.

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Would a 16-year-old be able to understand the weight of this gift? Would she be disappointed? The grandfather worried that his gift might not be properly understood but he couldn’t consult anyone since that would have ruined the gift entirely!

Deserving

When Ron had started working on the project, he knew that he wasn’t going to give it to his granddaughter no matter what. In his mind, she needed to earn it through her actions and keeping it a secret felt like the right thing.

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Ron said of his granddaughter, “I thought if she was straightened out and being a good person and being nice to people that was important,” and as we watched her growing up, he knew that the time was right to give her the gift.

A Decade Later

Ron watched as Lauren grew into a thoughtful, intelligent and empathetic girl. She studied hard, appreciated her family and had all the right values. And of course, her grandfather couldn’t have been prouder.

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He was very glad that he had kept the gift a secret and knew that it might have indirectly changed Lauren if she had known that she was going to be given such a precious gift. Ron put the finishing touches on the gift and started getting ready for Ren’s sweet 16.

Birthday Party

The whole dinner went by a blur for Ron who was rather nervous to finally give his life’s work to Ren. He barely ate the food and anxiously waited for Ren to cut her homemade birthday cake, so he could finally present her with his project which had taken him ten years to make.

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Ren had actually noticed that her grandfather seemed to be on edge at her party and had asked Ron several times if he was okay. This simple thoughtful gesture reassured the 72-year-old that he was definitely making the right decision.

Present Time

After blowing her candles and cutting the cake, it was time to open presents. Ron saw Ren open expensive present after present and with each one, he started feeling insecure. Was Ren too young for this simple yet thoughtful gift?

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Well, it was time to find out. Wrapped in simple brown paper with a bow attached to it. Ren instantly knew that this gift was from her grandfather. It was his classic wrapping which he had done for her since she was a baby.

What Was Inside?

Ren carefully opened the present and inside found three notebooks. Each of them was merely labelled, Lauren Book 1, Lauren Book 2 and Lauren Book 3 respectively. Ron saw as his granddaughter’s face changed from excitement to confusion to curiosity.

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The mismatched books were simple spiral notebooks that didn’t look rather special and were rather old. Ron held his breath as he watched Ren open the notebooks and as she read the first page, the grandfather knew he had made the right decision.

Lauren Book 1

Inside, written in her grandfather’s own hand Ren felt overwhelmed. It began like this: “Hi Lauren: I’m just starting this so someday you might read it for fun. It’s going to be a day-to-day record of you and me.”

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It was written on February 13, 2003, when Ren was only 2 years old. Now 16 years old, the teenager felt a wash of emotions. She got teary-eyed and her grandfather’s words became blurry. This was the most precious gift she had ever received.

His Memories

Ron recounted in the notebook that he worried that his beloved granddaughter might not remember all the adventures the two of them had and decided to write down everything that they did.

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And he was right. At 16 years old, Ren didn’t really remember any specifics from her time with her grandfather apart from the fact that the two of them had a lot of fun but now thanks to this gift, Ren would never forget.

Emotional

The 16-year-old hugged her grandfather tightly and thanked him profusely for the gift. Her reaction was exactly what Ron had hoped for and with tears in both of their eyes, Ren read out loud from the book for the whole family to hear.

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And as she read her grandfather’s words, the whole room was full of tears. It was obvious to see that Ron loved Ren extraordinary and had spent years of his life making sure that his granddaughter never forget that.

See Ya!

In the first notebook, Ron talked about how the 2-year-old was completely enthralled by a new game he had created called “See Ya”. It consisted simply of her grandpa doing whatever silly thing he could think of to get Ren to laugh.

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And as Ren read her grandfather’s words the memories came flooding back to her. She recalled their game, “He used to do this ‘See Ya’ game, and he would run into the wall over and over and over and I would die.”

The Alligator Story

As she read more of the notebook, another long-lost memory came back to her. One time Ron had taken Ren to a department store where they rode the elevator. The grandfather recounted how excited the 2-year-old was by the machine.

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She was so happy to be on the elevator that the pair had gone up and down it together, several times and Ren named the elevator “alligator.” Ron continued that he never got any shopping done that day but came home with a treasured memory forever.

Grateful

As you can imagine, it was hard for anyone to not cry reading Ron’s heartfelt words. Ren was the most affected by it all and kept hugging her grandfather. She even felt bad that since she had grown up, she hadn’t made enough time to spend with him.

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Ren was already very emotional but she couldn’t stop reading about her childhood from her grandfather’s perspective. And as she read on, more and more memories came back to her and she kept on crying, tears of happiness.

PAPA

“One of your favourite things is for me to push the button on your clock and do my silly dance. When I say ‘Lauren do it,’ you sit in your bed and say ‘papa’ and I keep dancing, falling, running into the wall, turning around like an uncoordinated fat ballerina, and you keep laughing.”

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Everyone in the room was crying, Ren and Ron most of all. Ren vowed to always call Ron Papa from now on and hugged him again. She had always loved her grandfather but now thanks to this gift, their bond had changed forever.

Childhood

She experienced her whole childhood again and realized just how dedicated her grandfather was to her. These simple pages in a spiral notebook had changed her life forever and she couldn’t thank Ron enough.

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Not just for taking care of her but for putting in so much effort to make sure that both of them remembered their time together. This was without a doubt, the most wonderful gift she could have ever gotten.

Sharing The Love

The next day, Ren took pictures of her grandfather’s present and shared them on Twitter where they went viral. Her post got over 160,000 retweets and thousands of people have reached out to Ren and Ron.

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“I’ve had so much feedback from other kids my age who say they want to get closer to their grandparents,” Ren spoke about others’ reactions. She added, “Or, it’s been a real eye-opener for them to appreciate their grandparents while they are still here.” She finished by saying “I truly don’t think that I will ever have a gift that is greater than this.”