My Moment In My Life

There are lots of things in life that happen to different people, for different reasons. And some people, you would never think they endured some of the things that they had to endure. Some people’s lives are better than others, the experiences, the drives that they push through each day, every day. But this story, is eye opening, and a learning experience in multiple ways.

The year was 2015 and in my mind it was going to be one of the most pivotal moments in my life. I was turning 16, getting my driver’s license, inching closer toward adulthood, gaining my independence, and free from adult responsibilities and worries. What I did not know was that one catastrophic event would have such a devastating impact on my life.

Although I have no remembrance of my early years of life, I would say that I do know my roots pretty well; I was born in a Caribbean country named Dominican Republic on April 6, 1992, which makes me sixteen years old. I am the fourth child out of six, making me the youngest out of the three girls. The basic information only situates my position in life but does not define me. I am a simple young lady that follows a routine on a daily basis. I have done small but significant things in my previous years that have shaped who I am today.

Everything is perfectly fine, everything is great, then one day it all comes crashing down and shattered pieces are left. My life would never be the same but I guess change is for the best and it forced me to become the person I am today. It’s rough to be the oldest child, especially when your mom is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and you have 3 younger sisters that look to you for comfort when their mom can’t be there. When the cancer is spread throughout your moms body doctors can’t just get rid of it no matter how badly you wish they could. Rounds of chemotherapy only slow it down, yet it’s still there a lurking monster waiting to reappear at any given moment. Nothing can even begin to describe the fear I felt, and still have to deal

Upon arrival at the small town hospital, my mom was rushed to a room in the back. Having been told that she will be out soon, my dad and I sat down in the uncomfortable waiting room chairs patiently waiting for the nurse to come back and tell us that we all

I watched as my family said goodbye as a I lay in my hospital bed, breathing raspily. I told them that I loved them. I tried to reach out for my mother’s hand, but was stopped by the short slack of all the tubes and wires connected to me. She comes closer so she can hold my hand, so she can comfort me in my last moments.

She looked at me, I knew their was no turning back it was time. I had been waiting for this day since June 10,2015. This last month had been hell for me. I was finally going to meet my daughter. We arrived to the hospital and checked in. I waited in the waiting area for about 40 minutes until I was finally taken to the back. I was given a blue patient gown to change into; I change in to it and sat on the bed and just waited. My mother was there sitting by my side, I was so nervous I just wanted to get up and go back home.

When I listen to the lyrics “Now, son, I'm only telling you this because life can do terrible things” I can’t help but look back on all the hard events I have been through in my own life. When I was four years old my mom suffered from a severe stroke after her drink got drugged. Even to this day I still have to step up and do more to help out around the house. Her capabilities have changed and my responsibilities have become greater. Just earlier this year, during summer, my dad was diagnosed with a late stage of throat cancer. Our family routine has certainly changed, from the things we eat to the time we spend together driving him to his treatments. Both of these major events in my life have made me realize that if I stop having a positive outlook, things will seem to get harder for

Last December, I came home from practice to find my mother on the floor of the living room, hardly breathing. I dropped to her side, begging her to tell me what was wrong, and she whispered that she was having a heart attack. Upon hearing that, my actions became erratic; I was hyper-aware of my heart, of time, of the phone I could not keep still in my shaking hands as I called for help. After waiting in painful apprehension, two paramedics would walk in, put my mother on a stretcher, and carry her out. I would give them her prescription medicine and wrote down the name of the hospital she would be going to. Then, they would take her away, and I would be alone in a house of utter silence. Something about the silence allowed me to ruminate over

I laid down on the white, musty bedsheets next to my ailing mother. This was her fourth trip to the hospital in a month. I was only six at the time and wasn’t really sure why I was in this room waiting for the doctor to come back, but I knew I had to be there for my best friend. I snuggled up closer on her right side and mustered up the courage to ask the question I had been wondering all month.

If you have lived for any length of time, you probably had a defining moment. I experienced my defining moment in the summer of 2010 when I was six years old. You may not think a child that young could have a defining moment, but you would be wrong. Moreover, our experiences as children help to shape our personalities, our outlook on life, and what fears and anxieties we develop. My defining moments happened on a trip to The American Museum of Natural History.

Albert Einstein said, “In the middle of every difficulty lies an opportunity.” I used to be skeptical about this quote, that nothing positive could possibly come out of any hardship. But I was proven wrong as I learned how to overcome difficult situations that helped me mature. As a child I always had an idea that if you were a good person, only good things would happen to you. At the age of eight, the only problem kids should have to face was what toy they wanted with their kids’ meal. During that age, I was forced to face a more complex obstacle; both my parents were incarcerated and taken away from me. Just when I thought I was living a normal childhood, I had to realize how harsh the real world was like.

Nevertheless, the hour and a half ridged drive up has never felt so long. My dad anxiously cruises from lane to lane. Perspiration runs through his hands, the air filled with nervous energy from him, my mom, and my sister, Tayler, as I bared my pain. I try not to show too much for the sake of my family. My stomach had taken over doing uncontrollable convulsions like an intense ab exercise nonstop. No one knew what was going wrong. Pulling up to the covered sliding glass entrance door to the emergency room, I slipped out of the car. Walking slowly, I went to the front desk. The tall blonde woman, with the look of sleep deprivation on her face, asked my mother in her soft voice questions about me. My mom, still shaking with nerves, answered them all completely for the receptionist. Standing there, a variety of emotions overwhelmed me. Right away, I was taken into a small glass room where a short, thin black haired woman took my vitals. She was in a hurry because there were patients coming in nonstop and had to keep everything flowing. After everything was checked, she escorted my family to the waiting area. Sitting side by side, I stared at the cream colored wall with indigo and soft ink birds on it to try to pass the time.

Throughout my life, I have not had any memorable things happened to me. Nothing dramatic like a car crash or a close family member that passed away. When I look back at my life and how I was shaped into the person I became I think about this moment in my life. How something as small and as ordinary as moving across states can be such a pivotal moment in a person’s life. One thing that did change my outlook on life is when I moved in the fourth grade to Alabama.

We all have times or moments in our lives where we learn something. We learn our life lessons through trial and tribulation, and through happy times alike. I have had several moments like this, when you learn something through an experience of yours. Some of these moments were happy moments, others were sad. These incidences are sort of like tests, and an opportunity to learn from our mistakes, or to learn from others’ mistakes along the way. One time in my life when I learned one of these lessons was when I was in second grade. I had just moved to Oklahoma from Texas, but I was not nervous about going to a new school. I had always had no trouble making friends wherever I went. I did not expect to be met with challenges that no second grader should ever have to encounter; racism and being told that my friends could not play with me because I was a girl.