Walking a Mile in My Shoes

"Walking a Mile in my Shoes"

I was five years old. I was excited at the idea of going to kindergarten. The morning of school I woke up bright and early. The sun had just began to rise. The night before I watched my mom pick out my school uniform. The chosen attire for my first day of school was blue long pants and a white collared shirt. My mom ironed them and laid them out for display in my closet. So when I woke up the morning of school I knew where just to find them. My pants were well creased and my shirt was wrinkle free and spotless. They both were hanging on an old brown wire hanger inside my closet. My hair was braided and toped off with beautiful clear beads at the ending of my braids. As my mom helped me dress, I realized that I was not ready to venture out of my own. When I arrived at school I was terrified. My mom walked me threw the halls and to my classroom. On my way to class I peaked inside the open classroom doors along the path. I stepped into the classroom, wiping the tears from my eyes as my mom walked away. I was finally a big girl, I was on my own for the first time.

As a child growing up I spent many days at my grandmother's house. At the age of seven my curiosity began to catch up with me. I was young an unwise, so someone could dare me to do anything. Every Friday my grandmother would receive a delivery from the Swam ice cream truck. My cousins and I would always be the first ones to run down the hill to see what goodies we would enjoy for the weekend. One of my older cousins gave me a dare of a lifetime, one that I would always remember, as well as everybody else. He dared me to stick my tongue on the ice cream truck. When the freezer door of the truck opened there was always a thick white sheet of dry ice in plain sight. One Friday afternoon I decided to pretend I was going to precede with the dare. As I leaned forward with my tongue out, I accidentally got to close. There I was looking stupid with my tongue stuck to the back of the ice cream truck . As I tried to snatch my tongue away it made the situation worst. After that accident, the dare phase of my life was over.

My adolescence ended almost immediately. My life went from all fun and games to more serious matters. Life is not always fair, which was a lesson I learned early on in life. It all started with a simple test, a mammogram. My aunt Joyce, who currently had breast cancer at the time, convinced my mom to get tested. In 2002, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. The doctors caught it before it could spread any further. She only lost a partial part of her breast, unlike my aunt. The doctors had to remove her entire breast. Luckily that was the only thing that was took from her and not her life. Looking back on the situation I realized that it could have been worst. I considered my mom to be blessed. I always thought life couldn't get any worse than that until a year later.

It was the year of 2003, my 6th grade year, which was suppose to be the highlight of my life. I was finally on my way to junior high school. It all came crashing down with