Chris went down for dinner when he got to the table and his mother had made tacos. Chris loved tacos, but he wasn’t very hungry. Chris sat at the table and picked everything out of the taco and named each thing in his head as he did, lettuce, tomato, cheese, meat, and taco shell. When Chris was done picking his food apart. He looked up, at his mom, and then his brother, and then his father none of them noticed chris’s sorrow filled look. Another boring story I am stuck listening to my brother tell over and over again for the next week. Chris sat quietly listening to his brother talk about how he kissed some girl on the cheek at lunch.…
When my step father committed suicide, it was the most shocking yet influential experience of my life. The whole situation expanded my understanding of mortality, spirituality, and of just how fragile happiness is. I can still remember the day that it happened; It was unlike any other day. I was in school when brother picked me up after lunch. We met up with my mother, and brother at my grandmother's house. The entire atmosphere was off. No one was acting like themselves. Immediately I knew something was wrong, even if their expressions and body language were not obvious enough. After sitting in the living room for what seemed like an eternity, I went into the next room where I found my mother who was crying, and when I asked what was wrong…
It was Monday, May 30th, 2011. My family was driving home from a hotel we were staying at in Virginia, after going to Kings Dominion for my birthday day the day before. On the way home, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for breakfast. During our meal, we got a call from my aunt telling us that my uncle, my mother’s brother, was in the hospital. Only a few days before he had moved back to Guatemala without saying goodbye to me. Once we were back on the road, my mother continued to get phone calls updating us about what was happening down there, as each call came through we all became more and more anxious wait for the answer. Then it came it just wasn't the answer we were hoping for, my mother began pushing on the walls of the car as if they were…
*Beep beep beep* I hear the unthinkable. The hospital heart monitor hooked up to my own flesh and blood. She ripped her liver open, my uncle shattered his cheek bone in several places and my mom’s friend involved in the accident to has a broken foot. Lets recap the horrible weekend we all had on that mid-snowy night.…
I’ve been told the impact of a parent’s passing can carry on for years or forever. I was my mother’s primary care giver for two years. In her last four months, along with hospice, I took care of her full time along with maintaining my full time job. She passed in her home surrounded by me and my other two siblings in January. Just three months later my dad, who was not married to my mom, died unexpectedly in his sleep. I am still in the tender times of grief from my mother’s and father’s deaths. Who would think I could fathom writing about such a sorrowful time in addition to writing about the lessons I learned from my mother’s last months and the graceful way she left this earth. I relive this not only because it is kind of…
Today is one of those rare days in which it is raining and I’m sitting on the windowsill waiting for a sign. Something that says ‘move on’. There is still a part of me that hopes every day that you're alive and I haven't found you yet. I will have searched the far corners of the earth before I let myself believe you dead. I dream of you every night, then wake with the bitter taste of regret fresh in my mouth. You abandoned me. You have marooned me on this earth, and it is dark without your light by my side. All that fills my mind is when you were still beside me. I distinctly recall one summer when we were not quite children anymore and still too young to be adults. It was raining so hard that the streets were flooded for the first time in eighty years, and you had insisted on escaping to the desert.…
Not everyone deals with failure in the same way, I no I didn’t. I see failure as a learning experience and a reflection of who I am, or who I could’ve been. Usually, my defeats result in the expression “Better job next time,” but when my body failed to comply with natures natural purpose, a vast amount of disbelief overwhelmed me, unable to change my odds of a “Better job next time.” Miscarriages can manifest into mental, physical, and emotional obstacles because such mishaps, will eat away at an individual’s well-being. My miscarriage surfaced other unseen medical issues that left me with a whole in my heart and dreams of becoming a mother one day, non-existent.…
I always believed that there is life after death and that you need to live your life to the fullest because once is something taken from you then you will regret not having it. The commencement in 2005 by steve jobs moved many people. He says “ Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make big choices in life.” He had a really hard choice to make, either give up or keep pushing forward, but just like his says “ You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” Steve jobs had big visions and big ideas for this world. He speech spoke to many people and gave many people inspiration because he didn't give up and looked at the cup half full and not half empty.…
“The pleasure of remembering had been taken from me, because there was no longer anyone to remember with. It felt like losing your coremberer meant losing the memory itself, as if the things we’d done were less real and important than they had been hours before.” (John Green). In my opinion, loss is one of the worst things one can face in life. It hurts. It sucks. It makes you feel as if you are the one who is dead.…
Suddenly, I woke to the sound of pain and stress. In the dimmed hotel room, my mother was laid roughly on the bed motioning that she didn’t feel well. We had traveled the far and exciting journey to Las Vegas to witness my mom finish a half marathon. It was an event that she had spent minutes, hours, days, and months training for. I couldn’t believe that after all of the work my mom had done in the past year, she wouldn’t be able to compete on the big day. I was wrong though when my mom sat up, tidied her tangled hair and nonchalantly said, “let’s do this”.…
For as long as I could remember my Grandma was my best friend. She learned how to use a phone just so she could talk to me every day. Every time I would go to her house we would play board games and make cookies. In elementary school she would pull me out of class we would go to the park or Olive Garden. Over a span of three years she developed alzheimer's, and it was miserable. Watching someone you love fade away takes a toll on you.…
“WHOA WHOA WHOA THIS IS BALONEY MAN!” that is something I say whenever I am frustrated. People have always told me sometimes the best way to learn something is through failure. People value things they have accomplished differently. Often the people whom are naturally adept at things do not realize how much of a struggle it can be for others. Many times when people have told me that if you are going to fall, fall forward. Do not let your insecurities, doubts, and pride get in the way of improving yourself. In brief, there can always be a way to improve yourself.…
I don’t blame myself for what happened to my parents. I may not be the most buoyant about it, but who would be? Going through your high school years without complete parental support can end horribly in more ways than one. High school is the time when you need your parents the most; you are growing up, maturing, and starting your life. It can be hard to know where to start if you can’t even recognize where your parents have gotten in their lives.…
Lately my heart has been breaking. I find myself being filled with awesome teachings, learning new things about myself, and digging deeper into the world. The only issue is that i'm filling up but lack places to pour out. Yes, other Center of Global Action participants are a place where I can share what God has been teaching me or encourage and empower them. However, something is missing. I have this deep desire to pour out to those who are in a different path then I am or who don't know the Lord. Something in my spirit is telling me that I NEED to disciple or mentor people.…
I remember a couple of months ago my aunt, who suffers from schizophrenia, had to be admitted to a hospital to get her medical needs sorted out. She was lonely while she was there so my dad and I went to visit her.…