The Time We Have 

My family has impacted my life tremendously but the one person who has impacted me the most would be my dad. He has taught me how to do many things in my life like how to fish, how to drive a four wheeler and also how to drive a car. Throughout my whole life he has done so much for the family and for me. I am so grateful to have a father like him. I don't know what I would do without him. I would say he inspires me to do the things that I want to because he works hard and he buys things for the family. Like four wheelers, a boat, and he brings food to the table not very many people can do that. He has always been there for me when I'm upset about something. He's always there to make me feel happier and he tells me life lessons and to not think of the negative things or it will just tear me down. Which always makes me so happy to know I have a father that cares for me.

Three years ago my dad got into an accident. He owns his own logging business with my grandpa. But it was like any other day in school doing my work and at that time my mom was a para at the elementary school. But my dad was out cutting some trees down and my grandpa was off in the distance pulling some trees down but my dad was cutting a tree and he had a hard hat on but when the tree was about to fall all of a sudden a big tree branch snapped off and it went full force to the ground and it hit my dad. My grandpa found him laying on the ground next to the tree branch and at the moment my grandpa was scared because he didn't know if his son was dead. But my grandpa moved him away from the tree and got him on the skid loader and soon after he was sent to the hospital. And so my mom got the call from the hospital so she took us out of school and went to the hospital. When we got there we found out that he broke 3 or more vertebrae’s in his neck that were broken. But he was telling us at the hospital that when the tree hit him and he was laying on the ground he was looking at his body laying on the ground and he was like floating in the air looking at himself and he said he was watching his grandpa trying to move him. The impact that it has left on me is very and I mean very big because most of the time I can’t even say how hurt I was. I just push all the hurt feelings aside and let it build some nights It still makes me cry. I couldn't stop crying seeing my dad laying on that hospital bed. He was trying to tell me he was ok but my brain just didn't want me at the time to think about the good. 

After we all left the hospital and we went home the doctor said he has to have a neck brace on for 3 months. Every time we had to clean his neck support and change the cushion in his neck brace I had to hold his head up while my mom takes it off and oh my gosh it was a hard task because my arms were getting numb holding his head and my hands were slipping because his head is bald and his head was so oily from not taking a shower yet and so my hands were just slipping. I had to do that for three months straight. And this was happening while I was still in school and so most of the time when me and my siblings went off for school my dad was alone in the house and he couldn't go outside at the time because it was winter and it was icy outside. So he just found my puzzles and he started doing those but when I got home he completed like five, five hundred piece puzzles because he literally can’t do anything. I didn't mind helping my dad like that for three months straight because he was hurt and my mom can’t hold his head and change the padding at the same time. I have learned so much helping my mom change his neck brace padding. 

I have learned from this event that my father wouldn't always be here when he gets older. And that’s why now I do everything with my family because if he wasn’t wearing his hard hat he won’t be here with me and my family. And I don’t know what I would do without him in my life. And when that time comes of old age I don’t know what I will do. I have lost so much in my life I don’t know how I would be able to handle all the pain if he did end up leaving us. He is like my role model, everything that is in my head and all the information on skills I all learned are from him. I have learned a lot from my mom too but I’m talking about the things like changing a tire or how to shoot a gun. He is the one who guided me through my childhood and showed me valuable life skills.

The thoughts that were going through my head when my mom got the phone call were a mixture of thoughts. Like is he ok, am I going to make it to the hospital in time to see if he’s ok, is he going to die. I had so many different thoughts going through my mind. And those thoughts were making me overwhelmed. My mind was like putting so many sad thoughts in my head I couldn’t take it anymore so I had to see him so my mind would stop thinking of the bad. 

So my dad getting hurt was one of the biggest impacts on my life and that’s why now I don’t take life for granted because I will never know when one of my family members or friends wouldn't be here anymore. If that ever happened to someone I really cared about I don’t know what I would do. And the time we have is a major thing and we should not waste it by not doing stuff with the people we love.