Essays

Narrative

Just FYI, I cringe reading this but, oh well:

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As soon as we left the Chicago airport I knew it was going to be a bone chilling couple of days.

    My parents and I had traveled to Chicago, Illinois to see my brother, Robert, graduate from Navy boot camp.

    Immediately after I stepped into the freezing night air I told my mom,"Look!" I exhaled air out of my lungs,"I can see my breath!" Though I was getting colder and colder by the second in the chilling Chicago night I was so excited! Since we needed a car so we could drive to and from places we loaded onto a rental car shuttle to get a car. The car we received from the rental car place was a silver Hyundai. "This car is really nice," my dad admitted. My mom and I nodded in agreement as we drove down the highway to where we were going to stay, the Navy Lodge.

    When I awoke the next morning in our tiny room that looked fairly old, I was surprised to see my dad awake watching TV. After I actually woke up I asked, " Where's mom?".

" Getting breakfast from the lobby," he replied," she'll be back any minute." As we waited for breakfast I stared out the window at the tree outside. It was so beautiful as the breeze lifted up it's branches. All of a sudden the door opened and my mom nearly stumbled in. I rushed over to help her just as one of the plates began to slip from her grasp. After we set down all of the food I looked it over taking in all of the marvelous smells from our breakfast. There was waffles, bacon, fruits, syrup, orange juice, and hot chocolate. As we began to eat we planned to go into the city and drive around.

    Later, after we had eaten and finished getting ready, we walked out of the toasty lodge and into the chilling afternoon air and drove onto the highway. Once in the city we drove around taking pictures of the parks and brick buildings. After a while we stopped at a park next to the lake. " Look the trees are painted!" I acknowledged as we parked. My dad and I got out and played on the equipment while my mom stayed in the car. We played until we got tired and rejoined my mom in the car.

" Did you have fun?" she finally asked.

" Yeah!" I replied.

" Glad you did," she answered while my dad started driving back to the lodge along with the help of a GPS.

    The next day was the graduation. After we had gotten ready we drove to the naval base where they had the graduation. By the time we had gotten into the museum portion of the building, I was completely frozen. Once inside we weaved around the different exhibits. Some were on the techniques the Navy used, others on the equipment, but all of them were amazing. Exiting the museum, we walked into a huge concrete room with bleachers for seats. " This room is bigger than I imagined!" I said in astonishment as we sat next to Robert's friend, Jasmine, who was also in the Navy.

    Over the next two hours people holding the state flags walked in, people who had received awards were announced, and hear the choir sing patriotic songs.

             Finally the ceremony was over and as we stood up we spotted Robert. " Congratulations! " we all shouted so he could hear us over the other families. As we made our way outside and

across the cold and windy way to a nearby Navy store, where it looked like everyone was going. We talked and took pictures. After everything we drove back to the lodge. While eating dinner we asked questions about where he was going to be. " I'm going to Pensacola, Florida tomorrow morning, " he answered. Saying goodbye we took more pictures and after he left we went to sleep. At 5:00 my mom went to the airport to take some more things.

             In the end what I learned from this experience is that you have to treasure the moments that you have with people you love, whether it be a person dying or someone going away.

8-26-14