Appreciate Who You Have

I had just woken up and my alarm clock had been going off for the past 2 hours. I heard wailing coming from the bathroom. As I walked in I felt a rush of cold air and the room was silent. I looked at mom and seen her sitting there crying, her skin was cold and pale. Her wailing sounded like a baby when it’s born. I ran up to her and asked her what was the reason that she was crying. She wouldn’t tell me what had occurred and just continued crying. I went to my dad who was sitting on the bed thinking. I asked him “What’s wrong with mom? “ He told me my mom’s father had died that morning at 4 am on Christmas.

It was the beginning of November and my grandfather had begged my mom to buy plane tickets to go see him in Dominican Republic. My mom had economic problems at the moment and my grandfather was offering to buy the tickets for her. Even with offering to buy her the tickets she resisted to not waste money and that she would see him soon after she got money. 1 month after they talked my grandfather fell off his bed and lost his memory. My mom quickly began looking for plane tickets to see him. 2 weeks after my grandfather fell and lost his memory he died in the hospital. After he died things weren’t the same, it changed everyone’s life. Especially my mom, she regretted not have gone to see him and wished she did.

Ever since my grandfathers death my mom reminds me to be good to my dad and to appreciate that he’s still alive. The death has caused my mom to stop celebrating Christmas for about 4 years and start wearing darker colors. She stopped going to family parties and began getting depressed. I noticed my grandfather’s death made an enormous impact in my mom’s life but didn’t realize it would make a big impact through time in my life also. I would argue with my dad on daily basis but never realized that at any given moment he could be gone, as could my mom. Every time I got a year older maturity would grow more within me.  

After 4 years of my grandfather’s death I started learning more and more from my moms mistakes. Each one of those mistakes helps me prevent it from happening to me. Every time she would notice that she did something wrong with her dad or something she should have done I take advantage of that and make the best for my dad and I. I use to not be able to remember when was the last time I gave my father a hug, now the last time I gave my dad a hug was 2 days ago. I begin to cherish him more since I know he won’t be here forever. It could be the fact that I am now 15 going on 16 and I’m getting wiser, my mind is expanding and I’m really thinking about things now.

Now that I’m starting to really appreciate the things my dad does for me I begin to feel bad for our past history. I would always argue with him and never realize the things he did for me. I would say things I didn’t mean and then afterwards feel bad about it. He cares for me so much and I always cared for him but its time that I begin to show it. Never again will I tell my dad I hate him for a dumb reason, or for any reason at all. If I could I would give my mom the ability to be with my grandfather once again so she could make everything right, like I am now.