In October of 2012, as the demolition of Hurricane Sandy began its path, myself, my family, and especially my father, endured the pressures of every aspect existing in life. As Sandy and recent exhausting pressures that inundated our lives were expected—school, sports, and family income continued to creep its way into the already overwhelming presence placed on our shoulders. Life rerouted onto the opposite path, taking advantage of unexpected occurrences as it always had an always would. The new year had made its turn, and on January 23, 2013, after my father came home from a late night at his restaurant, he suffered a stroke.

The silly, fun, hard working family man I knew as my father had become a weak figure unaware of his own physical or mental actions. As his eyes became crossed, his face droopy, and his speech slurred, I witnessed before my own eyes a crucial figure in my life becoming drained of everything I had known him to be. 

Seeing my father taken away from our temporary home, had left the thought I may never see him again. As he was taken away, family members came to our comfort as the night seemed to creep by ever so slowly, leaving my mind pondering what would happen to the utmost appreciable man I had known.

The next day my family and I went about our typical Thursday—attending the customary six hours of school and after school sports as if everything were unvaried even though we knew well that whatever may come in following was beyond our control and capability. Seeing our father was beyond precedence compared to other aspects and surroundings inundating our days. 

My father ameliorated himself to become a better man in a place of sufficient health compared to what he once was. My thoughts varied as I thanked the sometimes unpromising world for allowing me to continue a life with my father. However, I knew the scare my father and family had endured would leave us with knowledge we were too blind to understand in the past. 

I learned that people would keep working, families would continue to stress about income, and children would go throughout their days in routine for hours upon hours, from morning until night, waiting for it to only be repeated again the following day. Everything in life has a factor, and people learn from these factors in the unexpected life we are placed in for eternity; in this life, we never know what is to transpire at a given moment.  My cognition had only become superior to what it once was—leaving me with an experience that portrayed to me the benefits of self awareness, concerning one’s own actions and thoughts, of knowing what the unexpected may be before it happens in front of your own eyes, along with the benefits of gaining a new perspective. 

By: Toni Abdy