It was a hot day, the sun smiled down on us while we walked up the concrete that was never-ending. I thought we were never going to find our car. My family and I had waken up at about 7 a.m. We had a long drive ahead of us so we immediately began to pack our bags for the road. Although we had a long drive back, we still took the time to stop at a nearby clothing store and look around. We can through the front entrance and looked around for about 30 minutes. When we were done looking around we walked out only to see it seemed like everything had changed. The parking lot got bigger, small crowds of people were coming in and out of the store, and our car was nowhere to be seen. “Do you guys see the car?” My dad asked.
The sun had just set and all the street lights had begun to turn on to help see through the dark alleys. Just before we began to close the store something surprisin...
I started looking around and then I saw something out of the corner of my eye, a simple, brown trailer. I yelled “Guys there’s a trailer over there. It might have some stuff in it to help us.” They got up and we started running in the direction of the trailer. When we got there we realized it was locked.
We set up our camp trailer the day before season started. We had set our alarm for four o'clock the next morning, and we went to bed early.
We went to go get into my car and it was missing “oh no!” we thought to ourselves what will we do?
Growing up as an only child I made out pretty well. You almost can’t help but be spoiled by your parents in some way. And I must admit that I enjoyed it; my own room, T.V., computer, stereo, all the material possessions that I had. But there was one event in my life that would change the way that I looked at these things and realized that you can’t take these things for granted and that’s not what life is about.
A calm crisp breeze circled my body as I sat emerged in my thoughts, hopes, and memories. The rough bark on which I sat reminded me of the rough road many people have traveled, only to end with something no one in human form can contemplate.
On the Monday October 27th, 2014, for the first time in 4 years I did not wake up at 5:30 in the morning, I was not putting on a green skivvy shirt and shorts. There was no formation, no one that was higher command I had to report to, telling me where I had to go, what time I had to eat breakfast, what was I doing this day or what our platoon plans were for the day. There were no PT (physical training) I had to do this morning. Instead, I woke up grab a regular t-shirt, khaki shorts, and my two sea bags full of clothing and gear that I collected during my time in the Marine Corps. I threw everything in my vehicle and drove from Camp Pendleton, California to Quincy, Illinois. Within two weeks I was accepted to Southern Illinois University Carbondale. For three days, I stayed at the
I moved to Fresno, California and worked as caregiver sometime in the summer 2012. I lived there for about 7 months then I moved to New York in December 2012. My friend Alvin Almonte invited me to work in New York because he said job opportunities were much better here and that New York is much more accessible. I lost my immigration status in November 2011, while I was in Arizona. In my contract, I was assured that after three years (supposedly 2009-2012), the employer would apply for my Green Card. This was clearly not the case. I was working as a temporary hotel worker with an uncertain status. I started to work as buzzer in a restaurant in New York. Currently, I am working as caregiver for the elderly.
We saw skyscrapers, stores, birds, and a lot of people. We made our way to the hotel. It wasn’t that far, but when we got there it wasn’t ready so we had to wait about two hours. The sun shined right on my face.
I used to be one of those people, you know the type of people who think that myths, and ghosts, and murders are a load of crap. But until about two years ago my mind all changed.
One day, on a normal school day, I did something incredibly reckless. I got away with it, but if I were to do it again, I don’t know if I would have gotten the same outcome. My and my friends were incredibly lucky we weren’t caught, but the reward was exceptional.
The car was hot and stuffy when I slipped back into the driver's seat. I found the most depressing music I owned and drove out of Glenwood as the sun started to set. Two more hours until I was home, two more hours of thinking what a terrible day I had gone through, and two more hours of cussing myself for being so naïve. The drive was a long one.
The day seemed perfect. The sun was shining through the fluffy white clouds in the sky. The leaves on the trees had turned colors and were beautiful to watch from the windows. We traveled up and down hills like we were riding a roller coaster. When we finally arrived at our destination, we slowed down and pulled over into a small parking area at the top of a large hill. My parents opened the doors and stepped out warning us, “Stay inside the blazer and do not touch anything.” We wanted to go with them, but there was a steep hill to climb and they said they...
Although it only took forty-five minutes to get there, I must have asked, “Are we there yet?” about five times. Finally my dad said that we would be there in a little less than five minutes. We turned right on Nesbit, which is the road where the house is located. The road was made of stones. I can still hear the stones shooting up against the wheel wells as the car roared down the road. Finally, we arrived at the summer home and pulled into the driveway.
After church, my parents decided we should go to the botanical gardens and spend the rest of the day there. My dad had an old Chevy that sounded pretty good; it got us where we needed to go. It had some rust on the edges here and there, but all and all it was a good running car. The inside smelled like pine because my dad washed the car that mourning and he always bought a freshener to make it smell like that. I never knew why he liked that smell because I hated it; it always got me sick in that car, but today I didn’t mind because we were going to have a fun time in the Botanical Gardens.