When someone told me life was short I didn’t believe it, “Life is not short ;in fact, life is the longest thing anyone could ever do.” I mean, what is longer than life? NOTHING! But the moment I referred that “quote” to an elderly man, he pointed out to me that life truly is short, and when a close family member, a mother, for example nearly closes her eyes to death when you’re six years old. When you are six, nothing bad is supposed to happen to anyone, especially immediate family. Life is supposed to be lollipops and rainbows at age six, but when my mother was put into the hospital and I was six years old, my eyes were opened, and as a 6-year-old that elderly man was right, life is short.
As I woke up to my stepmom shaking me and saying get dressed as calmly as she could, I looked out the window and saw my dad taking my younger brothers and sister to our grandma’s across the street, I then slipped my socks on and I thought, “left first then right.” Next, I put my shoes on and grabbed my coat, I walked out of my room. Standing in the kitchen was my brother; I asked, “What is going on?” He replied, “I do not really know.” We sat at the kitchen table and waited for my dad to come back. Maybe we're going to Cape Girardeau, I thought. My dad walked in the front door and my brother Dustin, at age eleven, asked my dad, “What is going on Dad?” My dad stood there and looked up for a few seconds, which seemed to be five minutes to me. As my dad began to tell us what was going on, I could feel my eyes begin to well up with water and the room began to spin. “Your mom had a stroke last night, and she is in the hospital.” Tears rolled down my face as my dad says, “Everything will be alright.” Although I could tell in his voice it won’t be. We then proceeded to go get in the car and drive to the hospital. We stopped at the gas station on the way and my dad said we could get anything; I then grabbed some Sour Straws , Reeses, and a Pibb, and we hit the road again. My brother sat next to me and held my hand as I looked out the window and watched the trees run by. I think about what my mom would look like. “Will she know who I am, that I am her daughter,” I wonder. When we showed up at the hospital, the doors rotated to open. It becomes colder, like the cubes in the icebox that begin to melt after getting under the warm sterile smelling blanket. The dry smell of sanitation was in the air. The walls were off white as people rushed around like busy bees, snapping gloves; while also, hearing dings. The hospital long narrow halls, like walking in the halls of a busy school, gowns worn by patients, either as green as the grass or as blue as the sky. Lights flashed over every room at each corner. I held my dad’s hand as we arrived at the room and the only way I knew it was my mom’s room was because my grandma was standing outside of the room. I released my dad’s hand and ran to my grandma’s arms. She asked, “Do you want to see your mom?” I did not answer instantly because I began to think again, “What will she look like? Will her face be normal anymore?” I then replied, “Yes!” She opened the door and I walked in slowly and saw my mom laying on a hospital bed under covers. She had all kinds of tubes and different machines hooked up to her. I walked to the bed and looked at her; she looked normal but a little sick. I got to crawl up in bed with her and lay under the covers. The rest of my family then showed up and my cousins and I went to play in the hall. For the next three weeks or so I stayed at my aunt and uncle’s house a lot. Christmas passed and my mom still wasn't home, and let me tell you, Christmas without your mom home is one of the hardest things to deal with; I began to wonder if she would ever come home.
The day she came home was when my mom was truly safe to me. Although she did get paralyzed on her left side, she learned to walk again. As I grew into a young adult I had to help my mom with many things, like laundry, cooking, cleaning, and cooking. It changed me forever. Nothing can ever go back and change that day when I was sitting at the kitchen table and my dad told my brother and me what was going on. It sure changed me and the world around me forever.
