Ding dong! … Ding dong!

It was that day of the year again. My parent's annual Friendsgiving. All the guests were arriving and the smell of yummy food drifted through the air. Everything was great except we didn’t know where my dad went. After looking around, we found him in bed. He had a really bad headache and didn’t feel like partying. So at the last minute, they moved the party to a different house and stayed home. It didn’t end up getting any better the next couple of days, so he went to the doctor. The doctor just told him it was probably Covid and sent him home. I had to stay home from school for a couple of days and I was pretty mad. I didn’t realize how my dad was feeling and I was being a bit selfish. Then, the covid test came back negative and everybody was confused. That night I had gymnastics, so I left for practice. After practice, my friend brought me home. I thought it was weird, but I dismissed it at first. Once I got home, I realized my parents weren't home. I was surprised, so I decided to ask my sister.

“Hey, where are mom and dad?” I asked her.

“Oh yeah, they are staying overnight at the hospital. Get ready for school tomorrow.”

“Ok.”

That is all that I could get out of my mouth. The news hit me hard. I could feel the tears building up in my eyes. How was she so chill saying that? I was so scared, so worried, and all I could do was run up to my room and cry. I feel like every time my parents leave, my siblings don’t care. But this time, they weren’t on a tropical vacation. I don’t know when I fell asleep, but I did. I didn’t even take off my leotard or wash the chalk off my body. I was so tired that I woke up late and almost missed the bus. I had honestly forgotten that my parents weren’t home until a little while later. The house was silent and I had to get ready all by myself. One day of them being gone turned into two days. Then that turned into three, which ended up turning into a week without seeing them. I saw my mom a couple of times but only so she could shower or grab some stuff that she needed. We stayed with my neighbors, with friends, and with cousins. Nobody knew what was happening and if they did, they wouldn’t tell me. That made me even more worried. My dad always tells me not to worry about stuff. That everything will turn out ok. But I couldn’t help it. I needed to talk to somebody, but I didn’t want to talk.

That week went by so fast but also slow at the same time. When he finally was able to come home, he seemed like a whole different person. He didn’t have any energy and it was not like him at all. Slowly, over a couple of months, he got better until he was back to normal. He still had so many doctors appointments and tests and it was pretty scary to think about. He seemed so healthy before. It was so random. 

Afterwards, I learned two lessons. 

First of all, things can change very quickly. Especially people's health.

Also, it is very important to talk to somebody about your feelings. It can be very bad if you keep them to yourself.

But things happen that you can’t control. One minute you are living a great life and the next you don’t even know what is going on anymore. I am grateful that he is doing good and now, over a year later, the annual Friendsgiving happened without anything bad happening.