“Hospital.” “Sick.” “Uncle.” “Frightening.” My brain can’t comprehend these words that entered my mind as they came out of my mom’s mouth. My whole body shakes as if the words traveled through it and banged against me. I think back to the school day, the last bell. The last bell before the news would hit me. Hard. 

 The last bell of the day, I think to myself as I head to my locker. #118. I quickly turn the dial and open my dusty, gray locker filled with my royal blue backpack and lunchbox. I snatch my stuff and walk through the packed hallways to my final destination of the day. Math. I practically trip into the room from dodging everyone. The smell of body odor mixed with dirt hits me as the room has been trapping it all day. I shove my backpack and lunchbox under my seat and pull out my worn, dark blue binder. 

Class goes by very quickly, as if I was in a time machine and skipped ahead 45 minutes.“Bye guys, see you tomorrow”, Mr. Willis says. 

I quickly follow up with a “Thank you” and exit the classroom, breathing in a little cleaner air than before. Once I open the doors to leave the school, I rip my mask off my face and am hit with a warm, refreshing breeze. The sun glistens on the cars in the parking lot and blinds me with how bright it is. It is fall, but the temperatures scream spring time. My backpack tugs at my shoulders and back, as if it will break any second from the weight. My mom pulls up in her black SUV and I lug my backpack to the car. As soon as I open the car door something feels off and I sense a solemn mood. Once I set my stuff in the car, I climb in, the seat and seatbelt burning me from the sun. She starts saying something and my stomach drops to my feet as the words come out of her mouth. 

“Your uncle is in the hospital. Last night he woke up very sick and was rushed to the hospital. The doctors don’t know what is going on. This is very frightening and we need to keep him in our prayers and we need to think of the good things.” 

These words hit me like a wave. A big and powerful wave. A sudden fire shoots up within me, burning my head, my eyes, and my stomach. I shut the heavy car door, my eyes watering and making everything around me seem like a blur. The car slowly starts moving away from the school and suddenly those pretzels and salad don’t taste so good anymore. We pass Skyline. Then Speedway. Next Chipotle. The tears in my eyes slowly fall down towards my mouth. A drop lands on my lip. The salty taste of fresh tears saturates into my lip. The fire in me is still as high as ever and burns everything. We continue down the road and my thoughts wander, as if everything I knew had been sucked out of my brain and the memories of my paternal uncle with me replace them. Our vacation trips with the family. All the Christmas mornings together where we would throw wrapping paper at each other. The holiday feasts. The old pictures of us together. They all travel around my brain and eventually exit, leaving my mind blank. Except for one thing that is on my mind. Death. 

Death. The thing that has been way too common this year. The nerves that surprisingly stayed calm finding out the news, struck up immediately when this thought entered my head. That night, I got ready for bed as usual and found myself lying wide awake, still processing the terrifying news. My uncle is sick. Badly sick. I would think to myself over and over. But still, I had to listen to my mom and think of the positive things. I think of my strong relationship with my uncle and how we share similarities. How we love basketball and athletics. How we were the only ones to finish and correctly fill in all of the USA states out of our whole family.  I thought of all the joyful moments together. Him coaching me for the first time in a basketball scrimmage, boogie boarding together on vacation, making fun of each other, jumping over waves in the ocean and truly having fun. But my thoughts were interrupted when my brain gave me an old adage, one that I had never experienced until now. “Don't take someone’s presence for granted and live life to the fullest,” I thought to myself. I had never truly thought about these words and how important they are to life. I eventually drifted off to sleep and these thoughts carried with me, as I lived everyday to the fullest from then on. While his sickness popped in and out of my head, I tried to stay positive and most certainly kept him in my prayers. The days turned into weeks and soon enough, my prayers and hopes were answered. He was coming home from the hospital. 

Two and a half weeks later. He finally has left the hospital and is staying home. I beg my parents for me to go see him. They would always respond with “We can’t go over yet. Not until he is rested and settled in.” 

And every time I would groan. Until a week passed by and we were ready to go over to his house. The ride to his house feels like forever, but we finally pull into the driveway. The butterflies emerge from my stomach as we walk up to the door and enter the house. The section of the house we are in looks the same as always, except for the vibe of it. Normally there is a loud, happy vibe, but the mood is emotional and dull. As we bend around the corner the pictures of my young cousins are hung on the wall and I think about what they must have gone through. I imagine them waking up in the middle of the night, on a school night, having their dad be driven to the hospital because he is so sick, not knowing what is going on, and all of that as young children. My gratitude emerges from inside me and I am extremely grateful that they are doing well. We continue walking down the hall and the couch comes into sight. My uncle is finally in sight. He gets up as soon as he sees us. My dad is in the front of the line, then my sister, next my mom, then me. He rushes up to my dad and gives him a huge hug. Tears form in my eyes, but I blink them away. My uncle goes through the line of people, hugging all of us. When it is my turn, my uncle and I embrace in a big hug and he almost knocks me off my feet. Once again, the tears build up in my eyes and I try to blink them away, but they are too big for me to. Once my uncle lets go of me, my heart feels the emotion and brightens up a little. As if the world does care about my prayers and hopes. And to learn through the experience of it. To never forget the lesson I learned, that life shouldn’t be taken for granted and to live it to the fullest every single day, no matter the circumstance.