The Thank You I Never Expressed
More than 10 years ago.
It was during winter, I was bundled in my thick, puffy coat. My mom took me and my sister to a church and I was unsure of why we were there. As soon as we entered the side doors of the church, I was quickly greeted by Susan, one our Milal friends, that persistently tugged on my coat zipper while shoving and nudging me with her hands to ask me to take off my coat. It’s the middle of winter, I’m freezing and I just came in from the cold outdoors, but I reluctantly take off my coat and she runs away with it, so that she can hang my coat up on the coat rack where all the other jackets were hung. From that moment on, Milal came into my life.
My accomplishments, failures and experiences from Milal has developed a lot of parts of my character. Milal has opened avenues for me to grow and to be able to reflect on all of those occasions, so that I am able to further love on to our Milal friends with the love that God has shown to me. So, I want to break up 3 angles of how I have perceived Milal my past years here.
My first perspective is as a sister.
My sister, Victoria, she’s more well-known as, Go Eun, she has been coming out to Milal with me since the beginning. (For those who don’t know her, she has autism with a speech delay and she is one of our Milal friends that attends Saturday Agape Class).
There are people that have told me that life would have been easier if my sister wasn’t in the picture.
I am guilty.
There was a particular Friday in February the year I was in the third grade that had me out in the snow a little bit longer than I had intended. The bus ride home was prolonged due to all of the ice on the roads and I was pretty anxious to get inside where I knew there would be a set of warm pajamas waiting for me. When I finally reached my stop, unfortunately the last one on the route, I ran as fast as my snow boot clad feet could take me. However when I arrived at the front door of my home there didn't seem to be anyone there who wanted to let me in. I knocked and knocked but there was never an answer. Determined to get inside and somewhat in denial that this was happening to me, someone who just wanted to get to a nice mug of hot chocolate, I started my way to the back door.
It was the summer of ’95 and one day I woke up and felt really sick. I lived alone ever since the passing of my dear husband, John, since I lived alone I needed someone to take care of me just in case something really horrible went wrong! Well anyway, I had called my daughter that morning and she sent little red riding hood on an adventure to get to my house to spend the night. About 45 minutes later I heard a loud knock on the door, being the curious
My sister is not just a sister, she’s like a second mother of mine, and hard working woman who tries her best. She puts her family before anything else. I know that she has her own life and I have my own life. I’m the one who is in charge of my own decisions. I strive to better myself in the education field and myself as a whole person. I want to make my family proud! One of the biggest influence is that I can not give up because there’s nothing that’s impossible and do not let the little things get to
Through the entire milestone, she a person that you will never forget because she fills the atmosphere with warmth,
I had lacrosse practice on the hottest day of summer. The best day was going to jump off a cliff and die. Practice was done and I was hungry for food. I got in my mom’s car and asked my mom to go somewhere and get some food. We went to Taco Bell. I finished and was ready to go home and get a shower. We were going down the road and suddenly my mom got a phone call from my aunt. As soon as my mom started to talk to my aunt she started to cry and break down. She
When I was about 11 years old it was close to Christmas time, I was at Soccer practice and my dad was there watching me play. My mom stopped by and I was wondering why, because usually both my parents don't show up to my practice. I figured there was some sort of PREDICAMENT. I finish my practice and I'm packing my stuff up and my mom goes to her car and looks like she's about to cry. Me being curious as I am was bugging my dad
We stayed in the dorms and were broken up into groups based on age. On the first night I thought I heard crying so I grabbed my roommate and searched for the source. We stopped at the door it was coming from and knocked. A girl from our group had ended up with a single room and was homesick, having never been away from home. I immediately went to our group leader and explained the situation and asked if we could move the girl’s mattress into my room so she didn't have to be alone. The group leader agreed, and for the rest of the camp she slept on her mattress on the floor of our room. At the end of the camp when all the parents came for a last day picnic I remember her parents coming up and thanking me for what I had done. At the time I didn’t think it was a big deal, I did what I thought was right, not realizing how much of an impact my action
Early morning towards the end of June last year, it was family rodeo back home where my mom grew up at. We had always gone back to that town and that rodeo since i was a yee young lad, around 5 or 6. We used to go see my grandma, but she died when i was 10. Anyways, it was my mother, my brothers, sister and her family, me and my girlfriend. Well, the car we were suppose to drive 5 hours north with was very cramped for all of us, so i asked my girlfriend if we could borrow her new car she just bought the day before. She “talked” to her mom and her mom said “yes,” so her and I drove in that car while my brother and mom and their friend drove the other.
It was a September evening and the wind was calm. It's almost four years ago now. I was walking on a small path, the only light that made the road visible were some old streetlights bathing the gravel in calm light. I was wearing a red trench coat and carrying a small light brown bag. It was cold so I had my arms crossed as I walked down the path. As I was getting closer to the end, a man suddenly jumped in front of me and I got shocked. As i stood there frightened, he grabbed my back
I was anxiously biting my already short fingernail waiting for my adventure to officially being. It was an hour long car ride form the Denver Airport to our new house in Colorado Springs. We we arrived at our new house I was hesitant to get out of the car knowing that my new life was behind the the huge front doors. When we walked inside most of the house was set up already because my mom had been there previously unpacking boxes and remodeling the house. I walked upstairs to my new room seeing it just as I requested. Painted black and white with white furniture and colorful pillows everywhere. I walked back downstairs to find my stepsiblings sitting on the couch waiting to opening the remaining beautifully wrapped Christmas presents. After we were done tearing Christmas presents, I went back up to my room to finish unpacking all of my clothes into my white, antique dresser that I loved. My mom came upstairs and said “how’s it going? Are you okay? How are you holding up? “okay I guess. I’m not really sure how I feel about everything.” “You’ll get through it” “You’ve been through so many harder things than this. This is just a small bump in the road.” She then told me she loved me and that I should get some sleep considering how long of a day its been. I finished unpacking my clothes and then decided it
When my parents first divorced in 2008, I was uprooted from my childhood home to a tiny house on the other side of town. I felt alone and confused, with no one to really talk to. Then, I was introduced to Meredith. We had dinner at my house, and immediately clicked. Soon we were going out once a month, at least, to have dinner, go to movies, or other fun activities run by the Jewish Big Brother Big Sister organization.
Like every summer, me and my four best friends were down by the lake on the family pontoon. I can remember that it was exceptionally hot this day and that we were “melting” so to speak. We were just about to take the boat out when my phone started to ring. Flashing on the screen was my aunts name and number I picked up figuring she just wanted to see what we were up to when on the other end I hear, “Tracy we have to tell her now.” At this point, my heart was pounding. I managed to utter the words “tell me what!” My aunt, with fear in her voice exclaimed, “sissy there has
After a long December night, I was in my room the next morning getting ready for school. My parents had already left for work and left my brother and I at home. My brother was taking his time in the shower while I was brushing my hair in the upstairs bathroom patiently waiting for him to finish. After I was done with my hair, I went downstairs and knocked on the bathroom door and said,
Then in March it started to warm up. Until one afternoon in Lakota class, my auntie Shawn, who was the nurse called one of my friends and me into her office. I didn’t know why she wanted me but I got nervous because I thought I had to get a shot or something. I walked into her room and I never felt so happy in my life. I saw my mom standing there and she looked beautiful as ever. I hugged her for the longest time and I didn’t want to let go.
It was a bone chilling January night; my mom received a call at about 11:15 PM, a call that changed my life forever. My Aunt June was on the other line. She was crying so hard my mother could barely understand her. Through the sobbing my mom finally understood that Brian, my cousin, had been in a horrible accident and she didn’t know how bad it was. My mother jumped out of the bed after she hung up the phone. She screamed up the stairs at my sister and me; it was a nerve shrilling scream. I could hear fear in her voice. My mom was always yelling at us growing up if we forgot to do something. She would even get us out of bed to finish something that wasn’t done completely. This particular