Abrupt and Forever

Introduction:

My goal for this essay was to talk about myself through connecting stories. Since this was my first big writing assignment since last year, I had to read over it multiple times to catch my small punctuation errors. After all of the editing work I have done, I am proud of myself for creating a piece that flows from idea to idea. This piece was edited carefully by myself and other people who also gave me their opinions about the writing. How I would like to improve my writing process for my next paper is to write a plan so I know everything I am going to include in my piece.

Essay:

I am awoken by two high-pitched beeps as my eyes slowly open. “Ladies and gentlemen, as we start our descent, please make sure your seat is back and tray tables are in their full upright position. Make sure your seat belt is securely fastened and all carry-on luggage is stowed underneath the seat in front of you. Thank you.” I gave out a yawn. When I shut my mouth, I realized I needed water.

I feel the plane slowly descending and that’s when something between the bottom of my thigh and my ankle started to throb. My brain was remembering what the lady said on the speaker. I had to stay in my chair with my seatbelt on. I moved my leg to get rid of the weird, tingly feeling and then all hell broke loose. I had a charlie horse. My leg was stiff and felt like a rock. It was straighter than a ruler and hurt like it was broken. My heart started to pump two times faster and my teeth were grinding against each other. Eyes of my teammates and random people were staring at me as I was dealing with this agonizing pain.

This isn’t the only time people looked at me strangely. I am known to my peers as one who observes more than one who is always talking. As I was quiet this whole plane ride, once I began reacting to this abrupt pain, it caught the eyes of the ones around me. For me to be comfortable in school, I have to see who’s around me and observe the environment I am in. When I am meeting new kids, I have to find out what they like in order to talk to them. “Simple and right to the point,” is how people describe me. When I finally do speak up, it means I have become comfortable and I find this is when people look at me normally.

Comfort isn’t a charlie horse in your leg. If you are unfamiliar with the term “charlie horse,” it is a bad muscle cramp which stiffens your leg and lasts up to around ten minutes. When you are doing something in the broad lines as exercising and not drinking enough liquids, this is when the muscle cramp takes over your leg.

It was during this moment when I learned that when you least expect it, something will happen that you can’t control. Since I was a child, I was taught to work for what I want in life. But, it’s instances like what happened on my plane ride that I understand that sometimes issues pop up but you have to keep going.

Another example of a situation where an issue arose was when I was playing with an older baseball team on a cold day in the fall. The freezing cold forced me to wear a thick hoodie under my jersey. The wind would pick up the dirt on the ground and spray the little particles at whatever direction the wind was going in.

During my first at-bat, I reached first base. The next pitch, I started to run to second and slide feet first to get to the base before I was tagged. Everything was fine until I felt a liquid slowly moving down my leg. I raised my hands in the air and asked for a time out. It started becoming uncomfortable so I pulled my high socks down to my ankles to see blood smeared all over my legs. Luckily it was just a bad scrape and not a broken leg.

This instance was lucky. It was out of my control to burn my leg on the ground but something worse could have happened. If my leg happened to break I would have been out for the whole season and maybe the next one. All of the work I put in—hours of sweat and blood in the gym working to prepare for something I wanted so bad could have been taken away in an instant.

I am a heavy believer in living life to the fullest because I never know what can happen even if I think I’m in control. I treat every day and every time I’m on the field like it is my last. Lives of young kids are always being taken away from them from something they have no control over. Cherishing every small moment in life is important and staying happy instead of angry can positively affect your life along with the ones around you.