One day, I noticed that my mother wasn't akting right. She was very pale and seemed lethargic. She also had a terrible cough. She went to the doctor and was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was later put in the hospital. The doctor berkata that things weren't looking good. It wasn't pneumonia; it was much worse. It was myocarditis. Suddenly, it happened. Her jantung stopped beating. The doctor tried to revive her, but to no avail. I still remember the chilling words like they were berkata yesterday: "Time of death: 11:32 pm." I did not want to believe I had lost my mother. At first, I blamed the doctor for not recognizing the problem sooner. Grandma said, "Erin, the doctor did everything he could. There's no one to blame." I cried out, "So, I'm supposed to believe this is the will of God?!" She said, "Erin, recall that the Bible says that part of being a Christian is suffering." I said, "Really? Why did Mother have to suffer like this?! What did she do to deserve that?!" Grandma said, "Erin, the Bible says that all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God." I said, "You're saying Mother is in Hell, aren't you?!" Grandma said, "No, that's not what I'm saying, dear." I ran out of the room sobbing. I ignored my brother, Daniel, as he shouted, "Erin, wait! Erin!" He later found me outside the hospital crying. He said, "There anda are, little sis." I berkata through tears, "Why, Daniel? Why did Mother have to die?" He said, "I don't have the answers, Erin. Grandma was trying to help, but she only made the situation worse. That was uncalled for. I know that's what the scriptures say, but that was not the time for it. You're upset." I asked, "What's going to happen to us?" He said, "It's going to be okay. Our aunt and uncle have been named as our legal guardians. They'll be taking care of us now." That was very perceptive for a fourteen-year-old. Still, things were never the same after that. Grandma and Grandpa told me, "Just pray, and everything will be okay." I prayed long and hard, but it didn't help. Suddenly, I felt as if I was wasting my time. The only thing that seemed to help was music. One day, I was hanging out with my cousin, Barbara Ann. She said, "I know you've berkata musik makes anda feel better when you're feeling down. Here's some lebih good musik for you." She took out her iPod, and some great musik played. "Hey, Jude, don't make it bad. Take a sad song and make it better." That sounded nice. I asked, "What's the song? Who sings it?" She said, "The song is called 'Hey Jude'. It was performed oleh a band called the Beatles." I said, "Nice." She introduced me to a couple of other songs. I said, "They're amazing! Are they still around?" She said, "No, they broke up in 1970." I said, "Rats! Are any of the members still living?" She said, "Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are the only ones living." I had lebih questions, and I got lebih answers. I said, "It would be awesome if they were all still alive and still together." She said, "Yes, it would be. We could have gone to a konser together." It was then I began to realize that God was distant from me, and musik was closer.
To be continued
To be continued
When I had entered the fifth grade, I was dreading it. I had heard rumors that the teacher was really mean. When I met her before school started, she seemed really nice. On the first hari of school, I was wearing one of my Beatles t-shirts. She noticed it, and she said, "Darling, I cinta anda already!" I said, "Okay, then." She would take up for me all the time. The other kids often called me glasses. She heard them and said, "She has a name, guys. Her name is not glasses. It's Winter." There was one hari when another girl kept picking on me. I finally had enough and said, "I might look sweet and innocent, but that shit is for suckers, and I'm no lollipop." I looked at the teacher. She winked and said, "I heard nothing." I would have had her for the sixth grade, too, but unfortunately, I moved to Tennessee as soon as the school tahun was over. We both cried. We promised to keep in touch with each other, and we've kept in touch to this day.