Natalie McKittrick
Period: 4
What Change Me
It was around 6:00pm and as any 5 year old you would be well getting ready for bed. Brushing your teeth, eating dinner, you know the drill. Then, once your parents finally get you settled down and tucked into bed you… of course you fall asleep.
I was lying in my white metal bed, in my white walled room, that I had shared with my sister. On one wall was a large wooden bed that belonged to my little sister, and the one beside it was mine. In the right corner of the rectangular room was the little green bag with white flowers on it. Little did I know that I would soon be needing its contents. I was laying there peacefully dreaming when all of the sudden my breath fell short.
I sat straight up taking in whatever air I could. Wheezing, my lungs were pleading for air, but alas, I could not give them what they dearly wanted. What was I to do? I already knew that it was my asthma because I had had problems with it in the past, but my parents were always there to help me to fix it and take the medicine.
I was sitting there as helpless as a newborn baby, not knowing what to do because I had never been prepared for something like this… ever! My mind was racing, searching for something to do. There was only one thing that I knew might work. I whipped around and yanked my little sisters’ hair.
At first she slapped my hand away, and as I persisted she began to groan, and finally I heard a grunt that sounded like, “What!
All that I could say what was the simple word, “Asthma.” Of course she flopped back down onto her bed, so I continued to tug her hair, and then whispered, “ Get mom and dad,” even quieter this time. It was barley audible. She fell out of bed and began to trudge towards the door, but it was much to slow. I took in the deepest breath that I possibly could and said, “Hurry!” As she left the room, she held the door as she walked out leaving it slightly ajar; I greatly wanted to close it all of the way. I could barely breath, so I wasn't going to "take my chances" and walk over to fix the little quirk that bugged me oh so much.
About a minute later I heard voices in the hallway, and then all of the sudden the light flicked on practically blinding me, and a blur that was my mom was vaulting towards the corner that held the little green bag with the white flowers, and she began to assemble the bulky contraption. A few seconds later my dad strolled, picked me up, and brought me over to my mom and set me down. Then my mom began to probe around the bag for the final piece while I felt that minute by minute my life was being dragged away from me. It took another minute or so to finally get it working, and then at last my mom pours the clear foul tasting liquid into the pipe, handed it to me, and says breath deep breaths. Within minutes I was gulping in the air relieving the pain in my lungs. One minute later my sister slowly lumbered back into the room resembling Frankenstein, more so than a four year old child should. She practically fell into bed and back asleep.
This event taught me to treasure life because it might not always be there and that hard difficult times are a circumstance to life. Almost everyday I look back to this day and think about how lucky I am to be alive. I remember it like it was yesterday, and it makes me proud that I had this experience because it defiantly changed the way I think, and I wouldn’t be half the person I am today, if that would not have happened to me.
