Personal Narrative
David Laughery
Shane Fliger
College Composition
February 14, 2013
Personal Narrative
Like most, my Fifth grade year was supposed to be awesome; it was the last year before I was finally able to go to Ben Franklin, the giant School whose football and baseball fields I had played on for years, just waiting for the time I could show I was good enough to play for their City Championship teams. But when I look back on that year that had so much promise, it didn’t go as I had thought, and ended up being one of the hardest of my life, both mentally and physically. It was almost twenty years ago, but I can replay the day like it was yesterday (to a point). It was the middle of spring, May 1st to be exact, and it was a much anticipated …show more content…
weekend trip with my Father. His name is David as well. My Siblings and I had always looked forward to the twice a month visits, after all we were able to see our Dad, Grandmother, all of our Aunts and Uncles from his side of the family as well as our friends who we grew to know from visiting so much over the years. After a lackluster first night of the visit, spent eating Neapolitan Ice Cream and watching TGIF with our grandmother, we all went to bed knowing that tomorrow we’d make up for how uneventful the first night was because we’d be spending the entire day at Chesapeake State Park. We all loved the State Park for different reasons, so any chance we’d been able to go, we would, though this time it was for Fishing and Cooking out. We all woke up Saturday morning smiling from ear to ear, waiting for noon to roll around. At about 11:15am, my Sister received a call from her best friend Sarah, and decided to go to the Movies with her and her mother. This please both me and my brother because this meant it was going to be all guys, Five to be exact with my Uncle Rick (Father’s older brother) and our favorite cousin Ricky. When our Dad and the Rick’s finally arrived it was closer to 1:30, but we couldn’t care any less, we were just happy to see them and get on with this Fishing trip. Like every trip before we stopped at the 7-11 at the top of the Street to pick up all the necessities, Bait, Snacks, Sodas and what all the younger Laughery’s had grew to think was normal, a case of 24 Budweiser bottles. After what had turned out to be a rather productive day of Fishing, Cooking out and catching Snakes over at the Railroad Tracks, our Dad finished his last beer and decided it was time to “Hit the Road” as he had always said. So we put the assortment of fish we had caught into the Cooler, placed the Orange Ribbon Snake and Garter Snake we had caught in their new home, a portable Aquarium that we made room for in the back seat with us and piled into the car. I remember I somehow ended up having to sit in the middle of my Brother and Cousin which was odd because I normally had first choice, while our Dad was driving and his more best friend then brother Rick was in the passenger seat. Growing up, we had all looked at the two as “Rockstars”, to be exact, we thought they were Axl Rose and James Hetfield, so the fact that they had drank an entire case of Beer seemed normal to us, after all, they were Rockstars. As we were pulling out, my Uncle Rick suggested that we should take “Seven Hills” home, which excited everyone, so that’s what we all decided on. “Seven Hills” received its name because of the obvious, it’s an extremely dark, Tree covered road consisting of seven large, steep, windy hills. Each hill had its own specific way to go about it, some felt like your normal Highway with subtle banks and turns, but others would make even drivers as experienced as our Dad left feeling like a Formula 1 driver. While driving down the final road before heading on to Seven Hills Road, the part of me who had earlier that week learned about the dangers of mixing Drugs/Alcohol with driving thought to myself that maybe this in fact was not such a good idea. But all the excitement in the vehicle along with Don McLean’s “American Pie” blaring through the radio quickly made the thought disappear. At this point, our Dad was driving much faster than normal, but went through the first two turns perfectly, which caused him to speed up even more. My clueless younger Brother and Cousin screamed at the top of their lungs like they were driving the car themselves. This made me more nervous than I could remember to any point in my life at that time. Heading into the 3rd turn the last thing I remember is that I think the vehicle actually took flight off of the hill heading into the S turn at the bottom, then….crash! My life, that fast, had been changed forever. A few weeks later, six to be exact, I woke up in a Hospital bed, in what I came to find out was Johns Hopkins Hospital, to my benefit was and is the best Hospital in the world. My relatives quickly hovered over me, and after what seemed like ten minutes of Hugs and Kisses, I quickly changed the entire mood of the reunion by asking, “What happened? Why am I here?” The entire room broke into tears, I could tell I was about to get some bad news. Then one after another, I was given details of the aftermath of a couple “Rockstars” just drinking a few Beers. “You now have a metal slab in your forehead”, “You’re going to have to learn how to walk again”, “You’re middle was cut off and sewn back on, so you’re never going to have complete feeling in it again”, “Your brother is in a cast from his neck to his hips”, “Your favorite Cousin Ricky is now in a full body cast and will be in a Wheelchair for 2 years”, “Your dad is facing 10 years in State Prison for Vehicular Manslaughter because his brother (Rick) was kills”, and just when I thought it was over, my mom cries out, “Your dog was killed too when the house burned down 48 hours after the Accident”. As you can imagine, I was crushed, never had I experienced death, both figuratively and literally. When I did finally return home from the Hospital, it in fact wasn’t my home at all. Everything had changed. I was in a different neighborhood, in a wheel chair and wouldn’t not be attending school or playing sports, instead, I could barely leave the house and would be home schooled. My life devolved into nothing more than doctors visits and physical therapy. All my friends were gone, except on the rare visits where my Mom took me to visit the school. Though all my friends seemed excited to see me, I couldn’t help but feel like an Outcast. I mean I couldn’t even make it to the Bathroom without one of them having to push me, much less play football or baseball with them in Middle School next year. What was left of my fifth grade year, I made sure to cut myself off from everything that I had previously thought to be my life. I tried to make the visits to school few and far between, but on what would eventually become my final visit to the Elementary School, a former Classmate became the last straw in me becoming a disconnected Hermit when she asked me “Why did your Dad kill your Uncle”? Though I did not act out in anger, I immediately lost all feeling of friendship I had with any of these people. I was utterly embarrassed, ashamed and empty. Why did all of this have to happen to me? My Dad? My family? Why did they have to drink in the 1st place? The questions would not stop. I spent many a day living like an 11 year old Robot. I was like clockwork, wake up, go downstairs for School, Drs. Appointments, Sega Genesis from my wheelchair, bed. In between all of that, I waited for the one Saturday a month I would be able to go to the Prison to see my Father, who I no longer looked at as a Rockstar, but as a real person now, because every visit we had, at some point or another, he’d break down and cry and promise to make up for everything. We all believed him, we could see it in his eyes, it was just a question of when. He was strong, even with the death of his own brother and best friend; he always looked at the positives of the situation. Knowing this gave me strength and hope, which is what I needed more than anything at this point. By the time winter had rolled around, I had spent nearly the last six months of my life hiding from the Sun and anything with a pulse.
Christmas was approaching, which meant it was time to have my cast removed. I remember accepting my Dad’s collect call that morning, and him telling me that I would feel almost normal again once I had it removed and went back to School. I tried my hardest to take his advice into account heading back to the Hospital that day. I entered Johns Hopkins once again, but under very different circumstances this time. I had my life nearly taken away the last time, but as I walked out, the advice I was given repeatedly ran through my head, and for the first time in a long time, I had positive thoughts running through the cold, dark cell my mind had turned into. Several weeks later I went back to School, but once again, under very different circumstances then I had envisioned. I remember walking in, and to my surprise, everyone was excited to see me. The people who were once my best friends, who I had completely banished, accepted me like nothing had …show more content…
happened. Though I was very young when all of these events occurred, I can still look back on the situation and know without a doubt that it was the hardest thing I’d ever been through.
If I had not gone through this situation, I know I wouldn’t be as strong as I am today. As painful as it was, it made me who I am and who I will eventually become. I consider myself a very lucky individual for having the people that I did on my side I cannot imagine who could have become of me had I not. My home School teacher refused to let me depressed, telling me numerous horrible jokes every day, whether I laughed or not, all while keeping me focused on getting back to the School she knew that I really wanted to attend. My mother gave me inspiration by waiting on me and my brother hand and foot, from the time the Sun rose, till we decided to turn off the Sega and go to bed. But the person who helped me the most, is probably the person most wouldn’t have expected. It was the man who brought all this heartache and sorrow up in the first place, my Father. Facing several Felonies, fighting the emotions of knowing that his Brother would be gone forever, knowing that he would spend possibly the next ten years of his life in Prison, he still did everything he possibly could to make me and my brother feel normal. Some people may not understand how big of a deal it is to feel normalcy, but sometimes as hard as others try to be different, being normal can be an amazing thing. His calls, his letters, and
the promises he made, that I found out to be true several years later, are what got me through the most difficult time of my life. The next time I was able to see my Father outside of a Prison wall, was when him and my family surprised me by having him attend my High School Graduation. I was the happiest I had ever been, period. Looking back on it, I found it quite fitting that he gave me the hope and inspiration to be the first one of our family to actually complete High School, and he said that we had given him the same hope and inspiration to finish out his time, and somehow we were able to miraculously complete those journeys together.
Shane Fliger
College Composition
February 14, 2013
Personal Narrative
Like most, my Fifth grade year was supposed to be awesome; it was the last year before I was finally able to go to Ben Franklin, the giant School whose football and baseball fields I had played on for years, just waiting for the time I could show I was good enough to play for their City Championship teams. But when I look back on that year that had so much promise, it didn’t go as I had thought, and ended up being one of the hardest of my life, both mentally and physically. It was almost twenty years ago, but I can replay the day like it was yesterday (to a point). It was the middle of spring, May 1st to be exact, and it was a much anticipated …show more content…
weekend trip with my Father. His name is David as well. My Siblings and I had always looked forward to the twice a month visits, after all we were able to see our Dad, Grandmother, all of our Aunts and Uncles from his side of the family as well as our friends who we grew to know from visiting so much over the years. After a lackluster first night of the visit, spent eating Neapolitan Ice Cream and watching TGIF with our grandmother, we all went to bed knowing that tomorrow we’d make up for how uneventful the first night was because we’d be spending the entire day at Chesapeake State Park. We all loved the State Park for different reasons, so any chance we’d been able to go, we would, though this time it was for Fishing and Cooking out. We all woke up Saturday morning smiling from ear to ear, waiting for noon to roll around. At about 11:15am, my Sister received a call from her best friend Sarah, and decided to go to the Movies with her and her mother. This please both me and my brother because this meant it was going to be all guys, Five to be exact with my Uncle Rick (Father’s older brother) and our favorite cousin Ricky. When our Dad and the Rick’s finally arrived it was closer to 1:30, but we couldn’t care any less, we were just happy to see them and get on with this Fishing trip. Like every trip before we stopped at the 7-11 at the top of the Street to pick up all the necessities, Bait, Snacks, Sodas and what all the younger Laughery’s had grew to think was normal, a case of 24 Budweiser bottles. After what had turned out to be a rather productive day of Fishing, Cooking out and catching Snakes over at the Railroad Tracks, our Dad finished his last beer and decided it was time to “Hit the Road” as he had always said. So we put the assortment of fish we had caught into the Cooler, placed the Orange Ribbon Snake and Garter Snake we had caught in their new home, a portable Aquarium that we made room for in the back seat with us and piled into the car. I remember I somehow ended up having to sit in the middle of my Brother and Cousin which was odd because I normally had first choice, while our Dad was driving and his more best friend then brother Rick was in the passenger seat. Growing up, we had all looked at the two as “Rockstars”, to be exact, we thought they were Axl Rose and James Hetfield, so the fact that they had drank an entire case of Beer seemed normal to us, after all, they were Rockstars. As we were pulling out, my Uncle Rick suggested that we should take “Seven Hills” home, which excited everyone, so that’s what we all decided on. “Seven Hills” received its name because of the obvious, it’s an extremely dark, Tree covered road consisting of seven large, steep, windy hills. Each hill had its own specific way to go about it, some felt like your normal Highway with subtle banks and turns, but others would make even drivers as experienced as our Dad left feeling like a Formula 1 driver. While driving down the final road before heading on to Seven Hills Road, the part of me who had earlier that week learned about the dangers of mixing Drugs/Alcohol with driving thought to myself that maybe this in fact was not such a good idea. But all the excitement in the vehicle along with Don McLean’s “American Pie” blaring through the radio quickly made the thought disappear. At this point, our Dad was driving much faster than normal, but went through the first two turns perfectly, which caused him to speed up even more. My clueless younger Brother and Cousin screamed at the top of their lungs like they were driving the car themselves. This made me more nervous than I could remember to any point in my life at that time. Heading into the 3rd turn the last thing I remember is that I think the vehicle actually took flight off of the hill heading into the S turn at the bottom, then….crash! My life, that fast, had been changed forever. A few weeks later, six to be exact, I woke up in a Hospital bed, in what I came to find out was Johns Hopkins Hospital, to my benefit was and is the best Hospital in the world. My relatives quickly hovered over me, and after what seemed like ten minutes of Hugs and Kisses, I quickly changed the entire mood of the reunion by asking, “What happened? Why am I here?” The entire room broke into tears, I could tell I was about to get some bad news. Then one after another, I was given details of the aftermath of a couple “Rockstars” just drinking a few Beers. “You now have a metal slab in your forehead”, “You’re going to have to learn how to walk again”, “You’re middle was cut off and sewn back on, so you’re never going to have complete feeling in it again”, “Your brother is in a cast from his neck to his hips”, “Your favorite Cousin Ricky is now in a full body cast and will be in a Wheelchair for 2 years”, “Your dad is facing 10 years in State Prison for Vehicular Manslaughter because his brother (Rick) was kills”, and just when I thought it was over, my mom cries out, “Your dog was killed too when the house burned down 48 hours after the Accident”. As you can imagine, I was crushed, never had I experienced death, both figuratively and literally. When I did finally return home from the Hospital, it in fact wasn’t my home at all. Everything had changed. I was in a different neighborhood, in a wheel chair and wouldn’t not be attending school or playing sports, instead, I could barely leave the house and would be home schooled. My life devolved into nothing more than doctors visits and physical therapy. All my friends were gone, except on the rare visits where my Mom took me to visit the school. Though all my friends seemed excited to see me, I couldn’t help but feel like an Outcast. I mean I couldn’t even make it to the Bathroom without one of them having to push me, much less play football or baseball with them in Middle School next year. What was left of my fifth grade year, I made sure to cut myself off from everything that I had previously thought to be my life. I tried to make the visits to school few and far between, but on what would eventually become my final visit to the Elementary School, a former Classmate became the last straw in me becoming a disconnected Hermit when she asked me “Why did your Dad kill your Uncle”? Though I did not act out in anger, I immediately lost all feeling of friendship I had with any of these people. I was utterly embarrassed, ashamed and empty. Why did all of this have to happen to me? My Dad? My family? Why did they have to drink in the 1st place? The questions would not stop. I spent many a day living like an 11 year old Robot. I was like clockwork, wake up, go downstairs for School, Drs. Appointments, Sega Genesis from my wheelchair, bed. In between all of that, I waited for the one Saturday a month I would be able to go to the Prison to see my Father, who I no longer looked at as a Rockstar, but as a real person now, because every visit we had, at some point or another, he’d break down and cry and promise to make up for everything. We all believed him, we could see it in his eyes, it was just a question of when. He was strong, even with the death of his own brother and best friend; he always looked at the positives of the situation. Knowing this gave me strength and hope, which is what I needed more than anything at this point. By the time winter had rolled around, I had spent nearly the last six months of my life hiding from the Sun and anything with a pulse.
Christmas was approaching, which meant it was time to have my cast removed. I remember accepting my Dad’s collect call that morning, and him telling me that I would feel almost normal again once I had it removed and went back to School. I tried my hardest to take his advice into account heading back to the Hospital that day. I entered Johns Hopkins once again, but under very different circumstances this time. I had my life nearly taken away the last time, but as I walked out, the advice I was given repeatedly ran through my head, and for the first time in a long time, I had positive thoughts running through the cold, dark cell my mind had turned into. Several weeks later I went back to School, but once again, under very different circumstances then I had envisioned. I remember walking in, and to my surprise, everyone was excited to see me. The people who were once my best friends, who I had completely banished, accepted me like nothing had …show more content…
happened. Though I was very young when all of these events occurred, I can still look back on the situation and know without a doubt that it was the hardest thing I’d ever been through.
If I had not gone through this situation, I know I wouldn’t be as strong as I am today. As painful as it was, it made me who I am and who I will eventually become. I consider myself a very lucky individual for having the people that I did on my side I cannot imagine who could have become of me had I not. My home School teacher refused to let me depressed, telling me numerous horrible jokes every day, whether I laughed or not, all while keeping me focused on getting back to the School she knew that I really wanted to attend. My mother gave me inspiration by waiting on me and my brother hand and foot, from the time the Sun rose, till we decided to turn off the Sega and go to bed. But the person who helped me the most, is probably the person most wouldn’t have expected. It was the man who brought all this heartache and sorrow up in the first place, my Father. Facing several Felonies, fighting the emotions of knowing that his Brother would be gone forever, knowing that he would spend possibly the next ten years of his life in Prison, he still did everything he possibly could to make me and my brother feel normal. Some people may not understand how big of a deal it is to feel normalcy, but sometimes as hard as others try to be different, being normal can be an amazing thing. His calls, his letters, and
the promises he made, that I found out to be true several years later, are what got me through the most difficult time of my life. The next time I was able to see my Father outside of a Prison wall, was when him and my family surprised me by having him attend my High School Graduation. I was the happiest I had ever been, period. Looking back on it, I found it quite fitting that he gave me the hope and inspiration to be the first one of our family to actually complete High School, and he said that we had given him the same hope and inspiration to finish out his time, and somehow we were able to miraculously complete those journeys together.