Life Is Life For Granted

My maternal aunt gathered us together and we all sat on the couch. She turned to my mother and told us she had cancer. I looked at my aunt and I did not know what to say or how to respond. Three months later, my father received a phone call from his sister telling him that my pregnant cousin, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with leukemia and had to give birth to her premature baby. She and I grew up in the same house in Arizona and what hurt me the most was not being able to be with her during this difficult time. When we went to visit her in Arizona, my dad told us before entering the hospital room that he did not want us to cry in front of her. I was scared to enter. I did not know what to say to her but I knew I had to be strong. We stayed there for the holiday season but we never celebrated the holidays, that was too

My cousins, my sister, my brothers, and my aunt watched as the paramedics packed up their things. They had taken everything back into the ambulance outside where there were police cars and a fire truck. Everyone in my neighborhood had come outside because they heard the sirens and spotted the police cars. Many people had walked up to my sister and my aunt to ask what was going on. She quickly gave them a brief summary and we watched the police cars, the fire truck, ambulance drive off. My aunt and cousins told us to take good care of my mom and they slowly walked away. As soon as we could faintly hear the sirens, we walked back inside to check on my

I was awaken by my mothers frantic crying. Immediatly I broke down because I already knew what that meant. My grandpa was no longer living. We rushed to hospice were his cold lifeless body was still laying in the hospital bed. Walking into that room was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life. The moment we stepped into the door our family members were all circled around the hospital bed and all that was heard was weeping and crying. My mother was clearly affected the most by his death because she was the definition of a daddy’s girl. When she saw him laying there she instantly brroke down and rushed to his bedside and began talking to him as if he was alive. I remember her repeadtly saying “ I love you Wedaddy”. The look on my mothers face broke my heart. She had always been the light in a dark room. She was always the person that found a way to put a smile on everyones face. I had never seen her like this and it frightened me. Looking at my garndpa lay there lifeless and realizing I would never be able to get one of his famous hugs hurt

Weeks later, sorrow spread throughout all branches of the family. Grandmama passed on and the family gathered once again for the funeral. Several relatives flew in from Mexico and those from northern California returned. The funeral was filled with tears, but there was also joy at seeing relatives whom my mother, aunts, and grandmothers had not seen in many years. Although the reason for assembly was heartbreaking, my family, young and old, came together to celebrate the life of

One summer day getting off the school bus running home, excited about going outside; couldn’t wait to go play with my friends when I walked through the door and there was my Aunt Liz. Standing there with tears in her eyes, in extreme amount of pain. I was scared, didn’t know what to do or who to call. Do I called, Mom or 911? After calling my mother then 911, I knew I had to help my Aunt Liz, bring you into the world. No one around, no one to ask for help, only Liz and I. My panic turn into a brave teenager who needed to help her

My family woke up the next morning at 4:00am to head straight to Walt Disney World. We all put on our matching blue tie-dyed Mickey Mouse shirts and piled in the cars. Once we were all in the cars we were happy, happy, very happy. Then my Papa gets a call. “We are sorry Sir. You’re mom has passed away. She passed away very peacefully.” Though my family was expecting it, this trip suddenly took a sad turn. Everyone in the car started crying.

It happened when I was young. I was outside at my friend’s house sledding. We were taking a break when I got that phone call from my mom; she was crying. My sister was on her way to the emergency room. I started sprinting through the neighborhood towards my house. My dad was waiting with my brother in the car. My mom went with my sister in the ambulance. I was so scared that I was going to lose my sister. We got to the hospital and we were in the waiting room. It felt like days before we heard about her condition. My sister had pneumonia and mixed with her asthma she was having a hard time breathing. She had a severe attack and couldn’t breathe. If the crew from the ambulance didn’t show up the doctor said she wouldn’t have made it. I know

You should live every day like it is your last, you should take every good oppurtunity that you can daily. If you seize the day, then you are living your life to the fullest. You don't know when you will leave this earth. If you want something, like to go skydiving then you should do it. If you have the oppurtunity don't waste it. For example, I went to church camp about four years ago, it was an amazing oppurtunity and I was very fortunate to go. I am glad I went because life is short, and I don't know if I would've had that oppurtunity again, I seized the day.

Thirty minutes later, we found my sister on the edge of the pool. We asked her, “Where did you go we were looking for you everywhere”. She replied, “I do not know.” We got angry at her for getting lost but we were happy to find her. After that stressful moment, I was in the back of the pool, when another wave hit and everyone came forcefully pushing toward us as we all fell. After a very tiring day, we decided to go back to our cabin and get pizza for dinner. The next morning, we decided to go back to Chicago. Once we arrived, we were all tired and decided to go straight to bed.

From the moment I was born I was dying, every single human on this planet is dying. Our goal in life is to be able to look back during our final moments and remember the good times and to have no regrets. But as humans we have flaws, and one of those is our need to wait for the next steps in our lives. Ever Since I was young I was always looking towards the future. I remember being in the first grade and being so excited to be in the second, then being in second grade and being ecstatic about being in the third and etc. Eventually I had made it to sixth grade which was the year that our class got to go camping and I couldn't wait for it because I love the outdoors. When we finally got to the campgrounds on that first day I was jumping up and down in my seat ready to learn about watersheds and the world around me Unfortunately, my favorite part about that trip was the food because they had tacos and lemonade my two favorites. But, by the second day I was waiting to go home because they decided to move the trip to february and I can't stand the cold so spending four days in a place without heating was not in my cards.

After my mom came inside and brought in all her stuff and said hi. She told us to sit down. She told us she did not know if our aunt Mary was going to make it because she was not doing very well. First thing that went through my head was all the memories my family had with her and her family. The 4th of july, Christmas, getting our christmas tree, going up north every year and always going to their pool in

When we pulled into our new driveway, I was transfixed by the pile of junk that laid in front of my grandma's penury looking house. Once we entered we saw a note taped to the distorted fridge it said “I Have decided to move to Hawaii, but have fun in your new house”. I couldn't believe her, we had traveled all of this way to help her and now she just picked up her things and left.

It is an amazing gift to be alive, but many people don't see it that way. Most people actually live their lives without really living. They put their lives in other people's hands. They are afraid to really live, and without really living, they don't experience. Without experience, they don't learn and grow. When we really live, we have so much love to give to others. With all that love, we experience what it means to fully live. To be a loving individual is an incredible experience, and the time to start the journey to having a beautiful, fulfilling life would be right now.

The morning of July twentieth we received a call, I remembered I had a very bad feeling about my nephew the night before but I decided to just sleep it off. When I heard my older sister on the other end bawling my heart had just completely drowned down into my stomach.

I hear a voice saying: " Why don't you give me a hug?", I turn to my left and see my grandma standing there with a magical smile painted gracefully all over her face. I reach out and give her a hug. Then we both sit down and talk about the incredibly long journey to her house.