Assignment 19- Annie Varner

Annie Varner
APEng- 1st Hr

Assignment 19

Some of the best advice I've ever received was given to me by those older than me.  Time and time again I am so impressed by my elders the wisdom they hold and are willing to share.  My own grandfather is a man I wish I could say shares with me his many tokens of wisdom.  As much as I wish this to be true, the one grandfather I have left I hardly get to see.  Of course my parents share with me their own knowledge; I was taught to follow the Golden Rule from a very young age, and it was repeated to me in different forms in church and school as well.  "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".  "Treat your neighbors how you would want them to treat you".  I've known this since kindergarden.   But perhaps some of the best life-long advice is given to someone when they are in a heightened state of emotion- fear, anger, sadness, joy, surprise, etc-- and sometimes not even by people older than us.

When my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, I was babysitting my neighbor's 6 year old son.  Across the street, these neighbors just a year before had suffered a similar tragedy.  The son had already suffered what was I was just about to feel for the next 2 years of my life.  When I got the call from my sister, I couldn't hold back the tears, even in the midst of reading Chase his bedtime story.  13-year old Annie was weeping under Chase's dinosaur covers for what felt like forever, just until he gathered enough courage to ask me what was wrong.  I told him what had happened, but the only thing I remember him saying was, "what's the point in crying? what's crying gonna to do?"  His words in that moment were some of the most comforting words I heard the the whole time my mom was recovering.  Chase's words inspire me to not wallow on the negatives and that life always goes on.  I made sure to hug my mom extra tight that night, and sure enough, she became a cancer survivor who taught me incredible advice as well.