When I look at my life, one thing stands out as being important to
me and makes me who I am. It is my closeness with my family. They
taught me to live, love, and explore the world around me as well as to
believe in myself. My parents told me to never be fearful, to take
chances because you never know if something great could come out of an
experience unless you try. I was taught to use creativity and
imagination to bring dreams one step closer to reality. It is through
these experiences that I became who I am.
There are several
memories that I associate with these values. One is the times spent
with my sister, Jennifer. One of our favorite activities was playing
paper dolls with scenes and people cut out of old catalogs. We would
invent situations for our “pretend people” to be involved in. My mom
and dad tolerated the mess that stretched from the front door all the
way through the living room and down the hallway. Our parents still
laugh about it today. We learned that it didn't take expensive toys to
entertain us, but rather a little imagination and the bond of
sisterhood.
Another is how my parents taught me how to love. I
remember many times in my life when I was hurting physically or
emotionally and my parents were right there to help me get through. The
summer before tenth grade I was very sick with a stomach infection and
had to spend ten days in the hospital. My mom was there all day and my
dad would come over right after work. One day, I had a bad drug
reaction. I couldn't move my eyes. I was scared because I couldn't quit
staring. I tried to tell the nurses there was something wrong, but they
ignored me. Somehow I had enough strength to call my mom, crying for
help. My parents rushed over to the hospital and demanded that I
receive help and finally I did after many frightening hours. I'll never
forget my mom spending that night sleeping in a chair at my bedside.
This taught me about the bond of love that a parent has for a child and
always will.
Even with all of these memorable experiences,
none compares to the one that taught me how to appreciate life. That
was my grandfather's death five days before my sixteenth birthday. I
thought I would have been prepared for it since he had a terminal
illness, but I wasn't. He had ALS, which is better known as Lou
Gehrig's Disease. My grandfather was once an active fisherman, hunter,
and hard worker who turned into a man who could hardly walk or move.
All day long when he wasn't sleeping, he sat in a wheelchair slumped
over like a rag doll that had lost its stuffing. All I could do was
wait for him to slip away.
My life experiences taught me to
spend valuable time with my family because they will offer you the love
and guidance to get through anything life throws in your path.
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