On my 10th birthday my grandmother died of breast cancer after a long bout with chemo. I remember being in the hospice and whispering in her ear, even though she was unresponsive and on life support, that it was my birthday and if she had been waiting to let go it was okay now; she could go. That afternoon she did.

My family had known for a long time that the chemo wasn’t working, and that we needed to spend as much time together as we could. So, before my grandma was too sick to go, we packed everyone up and went to Orlando, Florida to visit DisneyWorld and SeaWorld. Before leaving, a friend of a friend had arranged a backstage tour at SeaWorld after the Orca show, explaining that my grandmother was terminally ill and it would be very special for my family.

The Orca show went off without a hitch…