The Importance Of A Normal Life

Life is normal now but life felt more normal a few years ago. Today, “normal” feels like a daily routine and nothing else matters except for education and occupation. In my case, normal meant watching each immediate family member walk through the front door safe from work or from running their errands. Little do we know what happens after they walk out that door again. We tell each other goodbye and take for granted the moments we have left before life stops feeling normal and life takes a toll on you. Once an incident happens to either you or your family, then the ground crumbles beneath you. My normal life fell apart after receiving one phone call. There were a few things I needed to realize before processing a different life: I needed to

I was also still trying to obtain my driver’s permit and obtain a part-time job. Any who, I went to sleep one night and everyone was home except for my older brother, Irvin. We get a call at 4 o'clock in the morning from my cousin telling us that my older brother had been brutally beaten up. The aftermath of an intoxicated man came to this: my brother had been assaulted badly, and fell into a coma when his head impacted the concrete floor. I remember not knowing how to feel at first when we first got the news. I was hopeful that he would be up and walking the next morning soon enough to come back home from the hospital. Due to the hard impact his brain suffered, my brother’s injury was severe to it, that I realized that this was going to be a long journey for us and a long recovery for him. I also knew that we would be doing a large amount of praying. Subconsciously, I took notice in what each family member in our household did first after the phone

We expected them to be supportive and reassuring but in the end, we were given a cold shoulder. My dad, my 2 older brothers and I did our best to set aside all the negativity that would potentially make my brother’s condition worse. As we saw him lay in his bed in the ICU, we were very careful not to scare him, even in his comatose. We figured that even with his eyes closed, his brain was sensitive and he was still “in there”. We spoke to him and reassured him that, although he will have a long recovery, he will be back to normal again. I whispered in his ear quietly, “We will all be here when you wake up. Everything will be okay. We won’t leave you. We’ll protect you. We’ll speak for you.” I advocated for him knowing that he would have trouble speaking for himself. Every day, my dad would say this to me. Every day he would mention how our family brought a negative vibe walking into the hospital. He told me that the best way to protect my brother was to isolate ourselves from them for a while until everything is settled. We’ve helped my brother, Irvin, in this long two-year recovery from hospital to nursing home. Today, he is home and does not remember much from the night that put him in the hospital. But we are here to remind him the best we can so that he continues to keep HIS head above the