I thought it was going to be a great day, but boy was I in for a surprise. We were on winter break and my brother, Drew, who is two years younger than me, and I decided we wanted to go sledding. It was about five years ago on a frigid winter day and the snow was coming down hard. It was very windy and cold, so we knew the hill was probably going to be icy, but we still wanted our dad to take us sledding as he would watch from his car as we go flying down the hill like he always did. It was the first time for us going sledding on this particular winter break, so we were really excited to go. “Lets get ready!” I exclaimed.

“OK” my brother replied, “Can you get my hat from the closet?” he asked.
“Yeah, your going to need it today!” I answered. We put all of our snow gear on, ran outside and made a few snow angels and snowballs as our dad got our sleds from the garage. We got in the car and we were on our way to Lamphere Hill, the place where we had been sledding so many times before. We got there in about ten minutes. When our dad parked his car, we flew out of the car as fast as a lightning bolt, grabbed our tie-dye sleds from the trunk of our dads silver minivan, and we bolted up the hill as fast as we could. We slipped on ice a few times on the way up, as I predicted we would before we left. There was a good amount of people there for such a cold, windy day. People were screaming in excitement as they flew down the hill was something I wanted to experience as quickly as I could. The first time we went down the hill, we went at the same time seeing who could go farther, dodging people on the way down. I glanced out of the corner of my eye and saw a snow ramp someone had built. Drew beat me in distance the first time as I struggled to stay on the sled and eventually flew off.
As we made our way back up the hill I noticed the ramp again, and it was right in the middle of the hill. When we got to the top of the hill again, I begged Drew to go down the ramp with me, but he didn’t want to. “Please Drew,” I begged. “It will be fun!”
“No!” he screamed at me.
“Why not?” I questioned.
“I don’t think its a good idea. Someone could get hurt,” he said.
“Please Drew! How about just one time, and we can go together!” I said, trying to convince him.
“Fine, one time only,” he sighed.
I went down the hill by myself one time, testing to see if the ramp was exciting and safe to go on. I flew into the air and came to a stop at the bottom of the hill. I sprinted back up the hill to tell Drew how fun it was. We got on the sled together, him in the back and me in the front. He looked nervous getting on the sled.
“Here we go!” I said. He didn’t reply. We pushed off the hill and we were on our way down the hill, in line to fly off the ramp. We got to the ramp. We went airborne and my head flew back from whiplash as the cold and wet snow rushed to my face, along with the wind. It felt good with all of the snow gear on which felt as hot as the sun. When we came to a stop at the bottom of the hill, I turned around to see if Drew had as much fun as I did on the ramp. I looked at him and his mouth was bleeding badly as the blood dripped onto his blue winter coat. I took my hat off exposing my head to the bitter cold wind trying to put pressure on his mouth to stop the bleeding.
Then I realized why he was bleeding. I remembered as we flew into the air, my head flew back. I guess I didn’t realize my head had hit him from all of the adrenaline and excitement I was feeling. I got him standing on his feet and he was crying. I got both of our sleds and helped him run to the parking lot where my dad was parked, which wasn’t far away. When we got close enough to the car where I could see my dads panicked face, I knew I was going to be in trouble.
“WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT DID YOU DO?” my dad screamed at me through his rolled down window. I didn’t answer him because I knew I would cry if I did. A few minutes later when we were driving home I explained the story to him and  the stupid thing I had done after Drew told me he didn’t want to go and that we shouldn’t do it. My dad screamed at me the whole way home as Drew's tears came out like a waterfall in the car. My dad dropped me off at the house without getting out of the car, so I knew he was taking Drew to the hospital. My mom had hot cocoa waiting inside for us in the same pink and white mugs she always has ready for us when we get home from sledding.
“Where are dad and Drew?” she asked me. I explained the story again.
She asked me with fear in here voice, “Is he going to be OK?”
“Yes,” I said, not confident in my answer. My mom called my dad a few minutes later and my dad explained the story to my mom from the hospital. My mom put the phone on speaker so we could both listen in.
“Apparently they were on the same sled and they went flying over a snow ramp and Dane's head flew back and hit Drew in the mouth,” my dad explained to my mom.
“Is he going to be OK?” my mom asked again, like she didn’t believe my answer. But why would she? Who would believe a ten year-old boy?
Then my dad said with a sigh, “Yes, but he has to get stitches.”
“OK,” my mom sighed. “See you when you get home,” she said as I continued to sip my hot cocoa. I knew I had cut Drew's mouth pretty bad if he had to get stitches. When my dad and Drew finally got home from the hospital, Drew had about five stitches in his mouth. He didn’t look like he was in pain anymore, but my dad still looked mad at me. We all sat down on the couch, Drew and I on one and our parents on the other as Drew started to sip his hot cocoa that our mom handed him. We sat on the couch in silence. I knew my mom, being a nurse, wanted to keep asking questions to Drew about how he was feeling and things like that. I knew my dad and I were relieved knowing that Drew was going to be OK because we had seen all of the blood and didn’t know what the outcome would be. I can bet Drew felt confident knowing to follow his instincts and not let his big brother tell him to do something he didn’t want to do. I know the whole family was relieved that Drew was going to be OK. I learned not to force people to do things they don’t feel comfortable doing, because people have their own opinions on what they want to do. Just because something might sound fun, doesn’t mean it will turn out that way.