When Lauren "Ren" Blank's grandfather handed her a stack of spiral notebooks on her birthday, she wasn't sure what to expect. Once she peeked inside to read what he had written, she was floored.
When she was a small child, her grandfather, Ron Petrillo, had been secretly writing about their adventures.
He started when Lauren was 2 years old and ended his series when she was 5. When she was gifted the three secret notebooks on her sixteenth birthday, she opened them up and spotted her name on every page.
She realized how much time and effort her grandfather had put into the heartwarming gift. Thanks to the secret notebooks, Ren was able to flip through the pages and reminisce on all of her childhood experiences that she shared with her beloved grandfather.
In a moment of shock and joy, the 16-year-old turned to Twitter to share the experience with the world. Quickly, her story went viral, touching the hearts of countless social media users.
The sweet bond between the two of them was only strengthened by the old notebooks. Now, she has something to look back on and treasure forever as they continue to create new adventures together.
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This is Lauren Blank, who prefers to be called Ren. Her sixteenth birthday recently passed, and one gift in particular was unlike anything she had ever received.
When Ren was only 2 years old, her grandfather, Ron Petrillo, decided to start a very special project. It was three years in the making, but when he finally finished, he was left with something that his granddaughter would be able to cherish for the rest of her life.
Ron gave Ren three spiral notebooks that she never knew existed. Inside were handwritten stories about all of the times she had hung out with him between the ages of 2 and 5. The 16-year-old was quick to post about it on Twitter, where she said, "Today for my birthday, my grandpa gave me 3 books filled w [sic] stories of each time he hung out w [sic] me from the age of 2 to 5. I am speechless."
Ron didn't tell any of his family members about the secret notebooks he was saving for a special day. “Nobody knew that he had been writing them all these years,” Ren tells The Huffington Post and adds, “He kept it a secret even from my mom.”
Within the three notebooks were numerous memories and adventures the two of them shared.
The first book began with her grandfather saying, "Hi Lauren; I'm just starting this so someday you might read it for fun. It's going to be a day to day [sic] record of you & me."
Ren explained to Huffington Post that she “couldn’t cry at first, but then all the emotions and realization of how much time he took to do this really hit me.” She then adds, "My papa has been one of the most influential people in my life.”
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