A Place Called “Home”
It was the day after my birthday, a Saturday morning to be exact. There was a strong smell of bacon and eggs that seemed to have flooded my room. As I open my eyes and rubbed them, all I can see is everything in my room because my door was half shut. My room was covered and filled with 101 dalmation toys, decorations, comforter and I even had dalmatian stuffed animals all over my bed. My walls were covered in the color white and I had large black spots on the walls. I looked around the room wondering where that delicious smell was coming from. I realized the smell was coming from down stairs. I took my feet out from under my blankets and place each foot onto my carpeted floor. I fix my bed so it is ready for me to hop back into later that night. I put each foot into my pink slippers in which I wore to go down stairs. I then open my door and walked down the brown carpeted stairs, I could hear a frying pan sizzling and dishes clunking together as if they were being washed. As I walked down to almost the bottom of the stairs, I looked at the small peachy colored walls full of family photos on each wall. I then looked over at the kitchen table and noticed breakfast was ready. I looked around the table and I saw fluffy pancakes with melted butter scooped on top with maple syrup drizzling down the stacks of pancakes, another plate was full of warm gooey sticky buns, and the other few plates were full of fruits, bacon, and hash browns. My dad was standing by the stove cooking up eggs to complete our breakfast and my mom was washing the few dishes that were in the sink. Everyone else in my family was sitting at the table, even my grandpa, who I was excited about because he was staying with us for a couple days. As I walked around the table, I looked outback at my giant backyard that had a swing set, trampoline, and moon bounce set up. I quickly sat down in the open seat that was left for me. I sat next to my grandpa of course and that is when I asked my parents why I had a moon bounce outback. I was about nine years old at the time, going on ten years old and my mother said, “Today's your special day! We are having your birthday party today.” As I heard her saying these words, my body felt full of excitement. I knew my mom and dad had special things planned, because they always threw me the best birthday parties every year. It was even better because my grandpa who was staying with us at the time, along with other family members and friends would join me on my special day. I was excited because my grandpa always surprised me with different kinds of entertainment for my party. One year, he hired someone from the actual circus to come over and perform tricks, another year he had a magician come and do magic tricks. It was my tenth birthday and I was sure he had another special thing planned. My grandpa was my best friend growing up, he always took me on the best adventures like the zoo and to the beach. I was beyond happy and excited to spend another birthday with him along with everyone else. Around five o'clock that same day, my friends, family, and neighbors started to arrive. By then, my house was full of balloons and a giant vanilla cake with chocolate icing on the table, which was my absolute favorite. My backyard was full of party games, confetti, my trampoline was set up, my outside toys were out of my shed, a piñata was tied up to a tree and other birthday decorations were all over my yard. We set up a lot chairs for everyone to sit on because we invited a lot of people. As I helped bring the chairs out, that is when my grandpa told me he has yet again, another special surprise. I smiled from ear to ear after hearing him tell me that. I knew that he always gave the best birthday surprises and they only got better each year! I felt so much happiness fill my body because I knew my birthday party was going to be great! He explained how he has someone with horses and monkeys on their way over to my house. I had no idea how he knows people like that, but then again, he knew anyone and everyone. Moments later after telling me what my surprise was, three men pulled up to my house with two trucks with a trailer hooked to each of them. The trailers held two brown horses and the two different kind of monkeys. We sat down and took turns riding on the horses around my backyard, which was huge! We also sat down and held baby chimpanzee and a spider monkey on our laps and fed each one with a bottle. My friends, family and I all took pictures with the monkeys; along with playing on the moon bounce and everything else I had in my backyard. The whole time, I was thinking about how thankful I was to always have fun and entertaining birthday parties. Everyone was having a great time, including myself. It was yet again, another wonderful birthday party thanks to everyone who helped and showed up, especially my parents and my grandpa who was always giving me the best surprises each year. About three years after my tenth birthday party, my grandpa needed to get his knee drained because he had fallen down steps in his house. He was in excruciating pain for weeks. There was too much fluid in his knee and it started to swell up within a few days after he fell. My mom had to beg him to get it checked out because he always tried to be tough whenever he was hurt. He ended up listening to my mom and went into Taylor Hospital, in Ridley Park. He got his knee checked out and the doctors in the hospital told him that he needed a quick and painless procedure done; which was draining his knee to eliminate the extra fluids. After his procedure was done, he had to stay in the hospital for a few more hours because a nurse had given him pain medication and needed to be monitored after taking. Unfortunately, that “pain medication” happened to be bleach. Mistakingly, the nurse did not realize she switched bleach with liquid pain medication and my grandpa had drank it without even realizing it because he was in so much pain. He quickly went into cardiac arrest after drinking it and was immediately placed into ICU and hooked up to all different kinds of wires and machines. Days later, there was little to no brain activity and doctors kept saying he was only getting worse. The doctors suggested sending him to Bryn Mawr Hospital, my family agreed and had him sent there right away. Bryn Mawr took wonderful care of him and gave him everything he needed. Yet, there was still little to no brain activity. After a few more days, he silently passed away in the hospital. If it was not for his knee drain and the nurse accidentally giving him bleach, he would still be here today. Still, to this day, I will never understand how someone can mix up bleach and a liquid medicine. My grandpa always loved his family and did so much to help whoever was in need. Everyone around our town knew him and loved him. He was an all around great guy and it just saddens my family that the cause of his death was because of a simple knee drain. My heart aches with the loss of such a genuine person, my “home” in which I can never go back to. About five months later, We moved out of our house to a house right across the street because my mom was pregnant with my brother Dylan, and later on three more other brothers. We needed a bigger house for my family. Plus, my mom could not bare sitting at a table in a house where she once saw her father every morning and now she can no longer see him. My old house was full of memories and experiences but why can I not go back to the house that is only right across the street? I can easily just walk across and see it. I can even look out my window and look at it.. but why can I not go back? It is simply because it was not just a house across the street, it was a “home” full of memories, stories, and experiences with an unforgettable person and that is something I can never get back.
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AuthorMy name is Samantha Hawkins and I am a college student studying Nursing. This is my blog post for one of my classes! Archives
May 2017
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