Never Take Anything For Granted by Angelica

Never Take Anything For Granted by Angelica - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

The most important lesson that I have learned from a teacher is to never take anything for granted. At first, this phrase to me was very cliche and overused. Even though I was only seven years old, the fact that these words from my fist grade teacher stuck for nine years just emphasizes the importance it has to my life. Being the oblivious seven year old that I was, I let that quote fly in one ear and out the other. Many years of experience later, I learned that this was the most valuable thing that a teacher has ever told me, all in a compilation of crucial steps in my life.

The first step to this lesson was my parent's divorce. They divorced that same year in 2007. My mom took me, my brother, and my sister to a small house in Palo Alto we can barely afford to this day. As a kid, I did not realize a family could fall apart so easily. I missed seeing my dad and my mom together, I missed family dinners, I missed everything I had before the divorce. The following months were a blur. I only remember the dreadful routine of waking up, going to school, coming home, and doing my homework. All without the company of any friends. I then realized I took having a full family for granted, which was the end to the first step of the lesson my first grade teacher attempted to teach me earlier that year.

The second step was my dad's decline in quality of life. I was so used to seeing my dad being the happy, handsome, tall man that he was. Soon after the divorce, it went downhill for him faster than I thought it would. His drinking became out of control. He abused it so much, he used alcohol and cigarettes as pain medicine for not seeing his kids, and a pinched nerve near the bottom of his back. As he got older, these drugs tolled on his body: the giant belly, grey hair, burnt fingers, and wrinkles were not part of the father I remember. I regret not spending time with him while he still had the ability to. After countless nights of praying for his well-being, I noticed that I took it for granted. Even now I hope that he will find the strength to turn his life around. This was the second step to my teacher's lesson.

The third step is my sister. My sister has Wolf Hirschhorn Syndrome and Prader Willi Syndrome, so she is unable to walk or talk. Growing up with my sister Marilyn I thought she was just like me. There was no such word as "disabled" or "nonverbal". She was just my sister. It was when my friends started asking me questions like "Why can't she talk or walk?", "Why does she look like that?" I never really had an answer. I thought of her as a burden and an embarrassment. Then she went into surgery for her scoliosis, her organs were being crushed together, and she needed the surgery as soon as possible. The day of her surgery I was so scared, so nervous that I would not see her again. But of course I did. It then came to mind that I took her existence for granted, and that she is not a burden but a blessing to me and my family. This was the end to the third step of the lesson.

The fourth step was my aunt's recent death in June of 2016. She died of breast cancer, which she thought she beat in 2010. Unfortunately life takes away the most valuable things in life so suddenly. I spent as much time with her as I thought I could. She was amazing in every way and I idolized her because of every trait she owned and radiated throughout her life. I now go through every day thinking I could have visited her more, I could have sent her more letters, but I can't turn back life no matter how much I want to. "I took her for granted," was the phrase that raced through my mind over and over again weeks after her passing. This was my realization that it is so easy to take anything and anyone for granted, and my fourth step to the lesson that started in first grade.

Even though this lesson may not be over yet, I will always remember the cliche and overused phrase my teacher put into my mind when I was seven years old. There may be several more steps to this lesson, but now I feel as if I learned as much as I am able to. In the moment I will always be aware of everyone and everything in my life. Given the things I've been through, I will use them to the best of my ability in the future. And I am forever grateful that my teacher emphasized this phrase as much as she did.