It was six on a chilly November 5 morning in 2011 when everything turned for the worst. My dear mother had an aneurysm. It was barely dawn when I heard peculiar sounds coming from the second floor of my home. The sounds of dishes clanging together; the pitter patter of dog paws on the hard wooden kitchen floor; frantic groaning and shuffling around by my mother. I had one simple thought as I witnessed these sounds: what is she doing this early on a Saturday morning?! With lack of understanding or sympathy, I travelled down the stairs and came face-to-face with my stumbling mother, using all her efforts to stand up, which she failed to do. Lying on the ground, my mother complained that her head murderously hurt. Not knowing what to do, I advised my sister, who came curiously down the stairs to see what the commotion was also, to call 911. These few minutes were only the start of the horror to come.

While my mother had to stay in the hospital for a little more than a month, my family had a huge dilemma. With my mother gone, my father had full responsibility over the care of my sister and I, and he also enlisted the help of his mother, from Germany. Everything was a mess. Fighting ensued. Stress levels increased. I soon found it was up to me to take care of everything since nothing but drama was getting done with my father’s mother around. In addition to my school work, I now had to take care of the house, washing clothes, thinking of what to eat for dinner, making sure my sister was in check, feeding and walking pets, and, of course, stay on top of my school work. Even when my mother came back home right before Christmas, she was unable to do anything due to her still being weak and still healing. She could not even go to the restroom or walk up and down the stairs without assistance. With all these new responsibilities put on me, I did feel the intense stress my mother must have had been feeling the entirety of her life. I grew a new appreciation and understanding for my mother.

This experience has made me a more responsible person, and also more patient and understanding with others, for I now have more of an understanding of the endurances they must go through every day, like my mother had. Even a year after the incident, I stick to my responsibilities and continue to help my mother out with whatever she needs. She has recovered remarkably, as if the aneurysm never happened. But it did, so my family most continue to be watchful and careful with her and not raise her blood pressure as it was before. I feel like I can handle anything now; the world is my oyster. I have a new appreciation for life and for my mother, for if she had died that day, as most people that have an aneurysm do, I don’t know where I would be today. This experience has changed me.

In some way, I am thankful it had happened; for if it hadn’t, I would continue to treat my mother poorly and never have come to a level of understanding with her that I now have. If it hadn’t happened, who would I be?