My Experience Of A Happy Life

All during the months of that illness, not only was I baffled by it, all of the doctors that I saw were perplexed by it, as well. The severity of my symptoms, the mysterious rash, the absence of elevated bilirubin and fever and so on. I was left wondering what had actually been wrong with me all of that time and what had almost killed me. Even though the blame was placed on my gallbladder, I knew the pieces of that puzzle simply did not fit.

For the majority of my life, I had been shy, even though it didn’t seem like it most of the time, I was scared to death when I met new people. I know that it sounds extremely trivial, but I feel that when you first meet someone, you’re ultimately giving them their first impression of yourself and that is a lot of pressure. It seemed almost certain that I would lead a life of being a social wallflower until March 2017, more specifically, March 28th, 2017. This day was and still is important to me because I learned how to be confident, and through my experience, it taught me something that I will hold onto forever. Prior to this day, I was an extremely introverted person and rarely went out of my way to make friends. As a volunteer at day

In the spring of 2014, I got the stomach flu. But it never seemed to leave my body. During the summer I would get shaky, my legs would go weak and I would feel like I was about to throw up. I went to the doctor for my annual check up and I got my blood taken. It was a lot of blood, 5 tubes full of that red, liquidy substance, tubes the size of fingers. The doctor told me that I had not been growing as much as I should have. I mean think about it I probably could have been 5’6” instead of 5’3.” Then I would have been taller than my mom! The doctors office always surprises me, it is so clean, white and it always smells like hand sanitizer and cleaning product. Plus you never know what is going to happen.

Over that next week, my symptoms kept changing, with no clear diagnosis in sight. Every doctor had a different idea, and with more blood draws in sight, I was tired of being poked and prodded. Labeling this summer the summer of health, I seemed to be a long way from that. The Friday before my UCI camp, I had a blood draw. Being my fourth one, I was slightly annoyed, yet ready for an answer. After the blood draw I felt extremely tired, my legs weak and burning, my chest pain increasing, my eyes, tongue, and hands were burning and tingling. My mom was out of town, and my dad left for a meeting, leaving my brother to check on me, routinely making sure I could breathe and walk. When my mom arrived late afternoon, she told me we where going to a neurology appointment, through the ER. Suspicious, I climbed into the car, but I trusted my mom and we headed to the CHOC ER

“How could one simple thing do that to my entire body.” I would ask later on when I finally figured out who the culprit of my sickness was. That thyroid caused many problems around the ages of 14 – 16. The first sign of this takes me back all the way to eighth grade where I was just incredibly tired. I felt absolutely horrible physically I couldn’t get out of bed, and it was hard to do some simple tasks like walking. I would be out of school for two days when my mother who thought it was the flu that was affecting eventually made an appointment for the doctor to get whatever was causing me to be this sick figured out, so I could be back to shape. My mother and I went to

On the Wednesday of the year 2000, my parents have already envisioned how my life would turn out to be. My mother expects much of me only because she was the first to ever attend college in our family. All my life because of that, I was always expected to: go to college, have a successful career just like my mother does, and eventually surpass her. Yet as I grow and develop my understanding of how this chaotic world works, I get lost. Throughout my life, I have had many hardships which I sadly at first did not take care of correctly. I am still human however as I understand that making mistakes is a part of life. Life is about giving the perfect effort. I know as I grow and develop, I don’t need to meet anyone’s expectations as long as I continue to try even when my limit has long been passed. I just want to continue to learn and and improve myself as a person. This world does not choose for me nor does it decide what I have to do with my life. It is my sketchbook and I am the one who decides what to draw in it. Right now, I am doodling the most complex eighteen-hour piece.

I stepped on American soil in 2013 unaware of the challenges I would come to face. But, what is life without a challenge? I left behind part of my family, the place where I grew up, the friends that I grew up with, and the park where I would play every day after school. Nevertheless, I was not the only one surrendering my life’s work; my parents were losing much more. They were giving up all the sleepless nights they spent studying to become doctors; although they still preserve the knowledge they acquired, they knew that here, they would not receive the same recognition they held in Cuba. But as my Mom said to me, “all that matters is that you and your little sister have the future that we were denied.”

Some point in my young life there were many time I wanted to be older then I already am. I can remember as far back as when I was 13 years old I had many moments when I wish I was already an adult had my own car and house no one to abide to. As I grew up I noticed, I wanted tom be older faster I was tired of annoying teachers telling me they know where my life was heading, I wanted to prove them wrong faster than they could grade my test. I wanted to have my own house and car if it was possible I would drive to middle school. The older, I got I wanted to finish school and start life but I didn’t really know how to do it. All we ever talked about in school was school stuff but no one really told me you need to do this and do that to be successful in life.

“Poke the porcupine! Poke, poke poke,” yelled my brother, Matt, as he jabbed his fingers into my ribcage. This game made the three hour car ride to Maine feel like eternity as the middle seat had my name engraved upon it (one of the perks of being the youngest child). My sister stared at the alluring landscape as we drove down the street, welcoming my family to Nana’s house. Pulling into the driveway, I am greeted by Nana, Papa, and Uncle Dave. My siblings and I immediately explored the backyard like adventurers in a new habitat. I traveled down a scenic path, welcoming me to the salty Atlantic. I paddled as hard as I can to keep up with my Nana and Papa kayaking. My whole family then took a hike, screaming every time we saw an apple tree. As we returned to the house, I washed my grass stained shirt and checked my body for ticks as I smelt savory lobster cooking. Crunching on corn and devouring my butter soaked lobster, I looked up at the table and saw a happy family: laughing about our hiking adventures and enjoying time together. As a first grader, I was thrilled to practice my reading skills to my Nana as she corrected my mispronunciations. Maine was a sweet escape, and I never wanted to leave. The only worries in my mind were the grass stains on my shirt, and removing the tick cemented in my leg.

“Remember that unlike you, I did not have an opportunity to finish school”, my mother always told me this to remind me of the importance of education. After her father’s death, she was forced to drop out of primary school because there was no one to pay for her education and to help take care of her mother and brother. With a less than 8th-grade education level, she worked odd jobs including, selling street foods, and currently selling second-hand shoes shipped from affluent countries in the Gikomba open-air market. She is my biggest inspiration because every day she wakes up at 4:00 am and arrives to work before 6:00 am hoping for a great day. Although working in Gikomba market does not guarantee any income, she remains determined and hardworking. Sometimes she comes home with no earned income but always carries with her a grateful heart. In Kariobangi South where I live, many people are like my mother.

Throughout my life I have encountered many circumstances that have shaped me into the person I am today. I started life in a small house outside of Mackinaw, Illinois. I lived in that house for eleven years, and while I was there I became the oldest of four children. That in itself has been an experience, teaching me a lot about being an example and impacting my views on responsibility. I have a brother who, quite frankly, is the worst behaved kid I know. He lies, steals, and misbehaves compulsively. Academically he is not much better. He was held back in first grade due to a refusal to do homework, and has barely scraped by ever since, consistently getting D’s and F’s. Miraculously, he is now in eighth grade, but he still is not doing much better academically or behaviorally. He is actually very smart; he just refuses to do work which is why he fails. At home he fights with my younger brother and sister and pushes my patience to its limits constantly. Through it all there is a silver lining. He has taught me tolerance and patience. I have learned to deal with other people and annoyances through my experiences with Brock, and find that I am generally harder to anger than others. The lessons in patience that I have learned from Brock have helped me a lot in working with others, and have contributed greatly to my successes in academics, but no single person or experience has impacted my outlook on life as much as my Mom.

I woke up, and immediately regretted it. I had just been in a wonderful dream. That’s all I know. The dream was forgotten when I came around. I wish I hadn’t arose from my slumber. I could’ve just. . . died. Dying would be less stressful than my current situation. Oh. I need to introduce myself. I’m a fourteen year old named John Bernfield, one of the many—too many—Johns in the city I live in, Philadelphia. I have lost my family, my job, my home, and everything else I possessed.

Since I worked and went to school, it took me six years to get through four years worth of college. I earned by BA in Literature and Writing from CSUSM in 2005. More than seven years had passed since the evening of my conversation with Rebecca. I had long since lost contact with her, and my life veered way off course from seven and a half years earlier.

“How could one simple thing do that to my entire body.” I would ask later on when I finally figured out who the culprit of my sickness was. That thyroid caused many problems around the ages of 14 – 16. The first sign of this takes me back all the way to eighth grade where I was just incredibly tired. I felt absolutely horrible physically I couldn’t get out of bed, and it was hard to do some simple tasks like walking. I would be out of school for two days when my mother who thought it was the flu that was affecting eventually made an appointment for the doctor to get whatever was causing me to be this sick figured out, so I could be back to shape.

On January 11, 2013 I felt horrible on my second day of my last semester of high school. I went thought it like no other day just with a lot of pain, then after school I went to work. I was sweating more than usually. I ache all of over and I did not understand why. So I work faster to complete all of my work ahead of time to be able to leave earlier. Which I did and came home. I told my mother what was going on. Then she check my body temperature. It was a little elevated. So I just went to sleep and the next morning it was higher. So, we went to see my doctor. And they said it was just something like the flu. They told us to treat the symptoms. During that night my fever spikes to 106.8, I could not move much I was going in and out consciousness. I lost more than twenty pound during that week I could not eat or drink anything my eyes would not open much, and everything made me hurt. We called the doctor he said to come-in, in the morning. When I went the doctor said it is not a virus but only thing it can be is a bacteria. They told me to do a urinalysis there. Which I did and my urine was reddish. My nurse went to the doctor immediately. They send me to the hospital with a few blood work. After that they started ask me