Brief Memoir

                On October 14, 2010, my senior class finished taking their SAT and were off to Disney World within the next hour. On the other hand, I ended up going to visit my grandma in Virginia. My family was uncomfortable with me going alone. Thus, the nine-hour drive was long enough for me to imagine how much fun all my classmates were having. I wanted to go to Disney too. I wanted so desperately to be independent. I didn’t want to surrounded by suitcases and junk food. Then, everything changed.  

                When we arrived to my grandmother’s house, my dad was hardly able to walk. He was slowly bringing out the suitcases from the car and my mom started to notice something just wasn’t right. My uncle, a rheumatologist, arrived from work within a few minutes anad asked my dad to lie down. My uncle did not show any signs that this was something serious. He encouraged my dad to get a check-up at the hospital. Despite all this, the rest of my family and I were under the belief that he was just physically exhausted from the drive. I went to bed with a heavy heart, but was comforted by the fact that my uncle said everything was all right.

                The next morning, I found out my dad had a heart attack. He began having symptoms hours before he started complaining about it. It was only after he had some fried fish at Long John Silvers that he began to assert his discomfort. Later that day, he was transferred to a hospital in Roanoke where he underwent triple bypass surgery. I didn’t see him for two days, because only my mom went with my dad in the ambulance. After we found out the surgery was a success, my uncle drove us to Roanoke where I saw my dad for the first time. That day, I cried the most. My dad looked ghostly and couldn’t recognize me. He couldn’t even say my name.  He was speaking just utter nonsense, going in and out of sleep.

With the two year anniversary of his heart attack coming up next month, it’s still very frightening. My dad has struggled so much to keep up a healthy diet and exercise. Moreover, I thank God so much every day that I didn’t go to Disney. I thank him that I was able to be there with my dad instead. I thank God I was able to reconnect with my dad even more than I ever had my entire life.