Multi-Genre+Essay+-+Family

  **When deciding on a topic to write about, I decided to talk about the thing most important to me in the world, my family. I do not know where I would be without them, especially with all we have been through lately. Although my title is “Family Travels” it is not about a family vacation or a nice trip somewhere, instead, it is about the journey that my family has undergone in the last couple years. It is by no means a “happy” story, but I hope that it is one that you can learn from, or even relate to. I hope that this could possibly help someone or a family who has gone through this sort of thing to accept what has happened and find peace with it. This topic was hard to choose, but even harder to write about. The wounds from this time are still fresh which made this difficult to write. This journey was one where we have lost and gained family members, the problems we faced, the problems we overcame, and how our world and future was changed forever. **           **____________________________________________________________________________________ ** **10 Months **
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%;">Family Travels **
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%;">Dear Reader, **

10 months have never flown by so fast. A world turned right side up, then tossed around and destroyed in less than a year. In influence arriving in your life, and leaving as quickly as it arrived. Devastation hitting two families, one close to home, and one half way around the world. Rauf came into our lives when my sister introduced us to him. The first night we met him, he came over for dinner. We stayed huddled around the kitchen table until 1 am sharing and listening to stories. One of the most influential people I had ever met. My brother in law. 6 months after they met, my sister was pregnant. This shocked all of us considering Rauf, who had cancer and undergone chemotherapy, should've never been able to have children again. Months went by, his health, unfortunately declined. Surgeries and other procedures took their toll while he still went further, and further downhill. We all stood around in denial, knowing what could or would happen, but refusing to accept this dark, disheartening fact. Hours turned to days, days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months. Watching the decline was one of the hardest things to do. The last 2 weeks was spent in a hospital in Indy. An hour drive back and forth, every day after school, 3 to 4 hours of sleep a night if we were lucky. Tears that could fill another ocean, never enough tissues. My pregnant sister, caring the best she could while being 7 and a half months pregnant. She is by far, the strongest person I know for how she dealt with this whole situation. A trip to the airport to pick up a brother who flew in from Britain. Stressful times, awkward conversations, and meeting under the worst circumstances. One brother by his bedside speaking to him in a language we couldn't understand, and a webcam to show his family in Pakistan the final images of him alive, that they would see. The days were long, the nights were longer. Exhaustion kicked in, tears stained shirts. Sleeplessness, depression, desperation. All things we experienced. Never will I forget those days, weeks, or months. The day finally came, and I got a text, our newest family member, our Rauf, was gone. Tears blurred the road on my drive there, the radio silent, and the cold air cutting at your skin. It felt as if even the world knew what happened. A cold rain, turned to snow. My sister, a woman 8 months pregnant, just lost the love of her life. One month later, we welcomed our little miracle, our Leila into the world. The name, in Arabic means "dark haired beauty" and that statement couldn't be truer. Now, 9 months old, she knows the pictures of her Papa who she says good morning to with her mama as soon as she wakes up. With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, times are getting harder. These are the times that last year things started to get very bad. Our plans are to not have a Thanksgiving dinner but instead go out to eat, and my sister and Leila are staying with us this year for Christmas. Despite what we have been through this year we have to stay strong and look at everything we have to be grateful for. Looking at Leila every day, I see her mother and her father. We all still miss him greatly, but we have to remember that we gained something beautiful, and a part of Rauf that will live on forever. Never before, has timed passed by me so quickly. ____________________________________________________________________________________  <span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">__________________________________________________________________________________
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">World: Upside Down **

A world turned upside down, destroyed.

10 months can change so much, and leave you hopeless. <span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> They enter your world and change you for the better, but quickly leave.

Tears could fill an ocean. Tissues in short supply. One life ending, another beginning.

Desperation Despair Desolation

Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Acceptance <span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">____________________________________________________________________________________ <span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">____________________________________________________________________________________
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">19 Hours **

Hour 1: Getting dressed and grabbing breakfast. Hours 2-3: Watching the news on a 15 year old tv in a hospital waiting room. Hour 4: Sleep. Hours 5-7: Playing on a Nintendo DS. Hours 8-10: Lunch. Hour 11: Anxiety and impatience. Hours 12-14: Card games. Hours 15-16: More impatience and more card games. Hour 17: Meaning-less conversations with others. Hour 18: Pacing the hospital hallways. Hour 19: Holding my newborn niece in my arms. <span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">____________________________________________________________________________________

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> **<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Miracle of Life **<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">

Naps throughout the day, bottles in between. Eyes that sparkle, a smile that glows.

Mimics your noises, copies your movements. Growls at our dog, squeals at the cat.

Watching shadows on the wall, tracing them with tiny fingers. Growing before our eyes, changing every day. <span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> **<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">___________________________________________________________________________________ ** <span style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.5pt; border: none; display: block; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in;"> <span style="border: none; line-height: 150%; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;">**<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Firsts **<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">
 * <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal;">____________________________________________________________________________________ **

With all that we've gone through in the last 10 months, we are waiting for the differences. The first Thanksgiving: without Rauf, but with Leila. The first Christmas: without Rauf, and with Leila. Leila's first words: Never to be heard by her father. Leila's first steps: Without her father to hold her hand. The first date: No father to be sure he's a good guy. <span style="border: none; line-height: 150%; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">