At the young age of seven I learned that even the strongest person in the world to me could get sick too. All it took was one phone call to make me realize anything could happen to anyone, just when you least expect it.

I was spending the weekend at my grandmother’s house like I usually did when we used to live a few hours away from Auburn. The night was like any other; my grandma and me would play games and watch movies until it was time to go to bed. It quickly turned into one I will never forget. At around two in the morning I heard the phone ring and my grandmother talking to someone, then she came in to where I was sleeping, got me out of bed and sat me down on the couch. She told me we were leaving right then to go back home. Something had to be wrong because she would never drive after dark. All I was told was my mom was sick in the hospital and we had to go see her. The two-hour drive home seemed like an eternity to me. I had mixed feelings of both confusion and worry; I didn’t know what to expect.
The hospital was filled with people hurriedly walking down hallways, in and out of rooms, and nervous faces fidgeting in the waiting room. It was the first time I’d ever seen my mother sick; it was the first time I’d seen someone in a hospital bed before. She looked so tiny and pale lying in the bed hooked up to a bunch of wires and machines constantly making beeping noises. I remember thinking that was the most annoying sound anyone could ever hear and why would the nurses keep that right next to her ear. Later on I found out that the beeping noises were a very good thing to hear, considering when my mom had been taken to the hospital the beeps were hardly there, meaning her heart was hardly beating. The doctor came in and asked to talk to my grandmother outside in the hall. I turned and finally realized my sister Lexie was also in the hospital room with us. The look on her face was probably the same as I had on mine, scared. My grandma then took me out of the room and explained to me what had happened. I learned that my mom had a heart attack just a few hours before. I didn’t quite understand what that meant, but I found out it could have been fatal.

In an instant I had almost lost my mom forever. The one person that meant the world to me, that never let me down, my super hero. I couldn’t imagine she would ever get sick. I considered my mom the strongest person I knew and to hear she had a heart attack completely shook my world. At the time, I only thought older people got sick. Never did I expect that my young mother would have that happen to her.

I believe I learned a valuable lesson about life when my mom had a heart attack. I realized the world can change for the worse and people get sick, but I also recognized it then changes for the better and those people heal and become strong once again.