One autumn afternoon my family and I went to go visit some relatives in Connecticut. My mother wouldn’t tell us the reason why we were going there. So we packed up some clothes and headed off to Waterbury, Connecticut the town I was born in. We first visited my step-brother’s house. It’s a lot of fun visiting his house. He teaches me how to play the drums every time we visit. My step-dad and I sleep over at his house. We get to stay up late and watch movies, play the drums, and eat pizza till midnight. My mom and my two sisters stayed at a little motel closer to the downtown area.

My step-dad and I stayed over at my step-brothers house for an extra two days. The third night my mom came to my step-brothers house to pick me up. She didn’t tell me where we were going. She just drove to the Waterbury Hospital, the hospital I was born in. I asked my mom why we came here but she still wouldn’t tell me. She went to the reception desk and asked what room her little sister was assigned to. We walked down a long narrow hallway to my aunts room. Her room had her nieces, nephews, and some people from the church she goes to all praying for her. I asked my mom what they were saying. She told me they all were praying for her. My cousin told me my aunt had breast cancer and wasn’t feeling well. My aunt called me over to her bedside. She started to talk to me in spanish. My cousin, Salvador, translated to me what she was saying to me. She told me how I looked more like a grown up then and how I looked a lot like my older brother, Francisco.

I was really close with my aunt. She was one of the first of my aunts to be there once I was born. Every time my family and I went to Connecticut we would visit my aunt. She treated me like I was her own son. She would play with me when I was little. Seeing my aunt on the hospital bed shocked me.

The people from the church started to pray again for my aunt. We all bowed our heads and listened to their prayers. Again my cousin translated for me. After the fifteen minute long prayer we all said “Amen.” Everyone in the small room and sat or stood around her at her bedside.

After our one and an a half hour visit the nurse said visiting time was over. We all said goodbye and walked out of the room. My mom and I started to walk down the hallway to the exit. After the thirty minute long drive back to my step-brothers house we picked up my sister and dropped me off there. My mom was going to Puerto Rico to visit her family members. My mom and younger sister stayed there for four days until they decided to come back.
One month later my mom got a call from my uncle on Thanksgiving Day and said that her sister has passed away because the cancer has spread out through most of her body. She was only thirty one when she passed. My mom hung up the phone and we all started to cry. She lost her little sister who was her best friend. We learned that life is short and we need to make the best of it no matter what.