Flying for Ever in the Sky

            I guess everybody has lost a loved one, a parent, a brother, a sister, a friend, etc. It is a very hard moment when you lose someone you love. You may feel very sad and devastated, because you are going to miss him / her a lot. When a friend of yours is passing through an experience like that, support them; make them feel that they are not alone.

One day, about four years ago, when I was at school, my mom called me; she said she was not going to be able to go to school that day. She said I had to go to a friend’s house. Two of my friends both said I had to go with them, so I called her called asking with which of them did we had to go. She said we had to wit the second one; her voice sounded very low and as if she was very sick, but she was not sick when I went out of home, so I thought it could not be that. Though, I never thought of what was going on. I didn’t know why, but I still didn’t ask why we had to go with them, I just did it.

Everything was as usual, we ate, I finished making my homework with my friend; we even started to play Play Station for the whole evening. It passed a lot of time until my parents came for me and my brothers. When they came for us, we grabbed our things and go to say hi to them. Everything was normal until that moment. When we were outside my friend’s house, they said they had to tell us something; that was when I got kind of scared, but it was going to get worse. She said:

        -Your uncle (who was a pilot) just had an airplane accident this morning,

      That was when I got even more scared, and she continued:

       -and he died.

When she said that, I felt that horrible sensation in your throat when you want to cry; I felt that for the whole funeral. She started to cry a lot. They said we were going home to change our clothes because we were going to the funeral. I received some text messages from friends giving their condolences. I could only think on the last time I saw him, at my grandma’s birth day; my cousins and I played Rock Band and then adults started playing with us, we even recorded him playing the game’s guitar, my dad at the drums, and my mother’s brother singing “The eye of the tiger,” by Survivor.

We went to funeral, my aunt was very sad; she does not even remember what people told her. My cousin was better than what I expected, even though he is the same age as me and he understood what was happening, unlike to my other brothers who did not understand what was happening; my grandma took pictures so that my little cousins see them when they grow up enough to understand. My aunt almost faint on the funeral. At the end, my aunt and my cousin threw a rose on my uncle’s coffin.

We stayed about three days to sleep at their house, and my grandparents stayed there longer. They needed support and company. My aunt cried for my uncle for a lot of days. Their anniversary was at the same month as his birth day and my aunts birth day; that month was one of the hardest ones for his family.

We all loved him a lot, we had a very close relationship with him and his family, and we know we are going to see him again. Now, he is with his son, who died at his birth. He was going to El Salvador, but his destiny wasn`t there. He died doing what he loved, now he doesn`t need his airplane, now he flies among the sky and he will do it forever.

Weather: is this a benefit or harm?

Sometimes you might feel desperate, stressed out, or even you might feel like hitting someone on the face for no reason. Sometimes, you do not even know why you feel like that. Maybe you did not sleep well or maybe someone just does not stop bothering you; maybe it is just the weather. Believe it or not, weather can change the way you live on your daily life.

            The weather can affect a lot the way you feel, think, and act. For example, how can teachers want me to pay attention when it is raining and I am sleepy? If you feel like that, my council is to sleep on accounting class; especially if you have my boring teacher, who also turns off the lights; she creates the perfect environment for sleeping.           We are sometimes tired of everything (especially of school) and we just do not want to listen about classes or homework and weather does not help.

            When it is extremely hot, everybody is very desperate, and start to bother everybody, which makes everything worse. Everybody wants that day to go home, especially when it is Friday. Sometimes I make the mistake of going to school with a long sleeve shirt to school, which makes me come very mad and desperate. The worst thing is when, if you did something wrong, your mom starts to argue with you; you feel very frustrated. I can only say that you should try, as hard as you can, to be very patient with everybody and ignore everything that bothers around you, not only people, but also other noises outside, etc. Something else you can do is lay in your bed, turn your music on, and relax.

            A cold day, on the other hand, makes people to calm down and even to be apparently sad. A cold, dark day may even be depressive. Everyone wears sweaters and black clothes. You can see everyone cuddle with their sweaters in their chairs, trying not to stand up for any reason. People (including me), also makes the mistake of going with a short sleeve shirt to school. The worst from these days is the morning, when the coldest winds blow. I counsel to look for your thickest clothes, jackets, or sweaters; if, if you can, stay at home, sleeping on your bed, under all your blankets. Listening music may sometimes help you feel happier and with more energy. Personally, I prefer cold weather than hot weather.

            Weather may not be always against you, but it can also be something that helps you to be very happy and active. These days, are the ones that are just perfect to go out with friends, family or both. They are perfect to make any sport or any other activity. Your humor and mood are better and everybody can notice it. You even work in a better way at school or at work. My only counsel for these types of days is having fun as much as you can.

            It is important that we have to try to be polite and to always have a smile on our faces. We have to be the example for others. We should show everybody in the world the, even when weather might be not on our favor, we can always be on a good mood.

            This is one of the reasons why I love Guatemala, it has the perfect weather. It is not too hot, but it is not cold either. Everybody is always happy, or maybe most of the time. I cannot imagine how would the Guatemalan people be if we lived in a cold place, would they be always sad? I can’t also imagine them if we lived in a hot place, would people be desperate all time? I do not really want to know what would happen, it is perfect as it is right here, right now.

The Supporter

He is an example for me, and for all his friends and family. A support for everyone who knows him. A very intelligent and talented person.  He tries to be polite with everybody and everybody is polite with him. He makes you feel better when you feel sad and has always a smile on his face.

Julio Garcia was born on El Pilar Hospital in Guatemala City, Guatemala; on a Monday morning, March 6th of 1995. Even though his firsts minutes of life were about to be the last ones in his life, he has grown healthy. He has grown on a united family of six, who have always support him on his problems. He has become a very good friend of mine. Is a very good adviser to all those that surround him. He tries always to support his friends and help them with his problems on a better way.

Since I know him, he is a very positive person. A couple of years ago, his family suffered a big tragedy. His uncle, who was a pilot died in an airplane accident. I came to visit but he was not as devastated I thought he would be. I asked why he was so calmed; he said he was sure it was his time and that he was at a better place.

Julio is a very athletic person. He uses to go playing basketball on Saturdays with his friends in the morning. I hate playing against him, he will always win. By the other side, I like to play soccer against him, because I am a better player than him. We also use to go to the gym four days a week. He is not only athletic but also he eats very healthy. A couple of months ago, we went to a restaurant to eat as a friend’s celebration. Everyone asked for a soda, except he, who asked for water; another friend asked him why he asked for water, he just said: “It is healthier.”

Just as I do, he wakes up at four thirty in the morning to go to a church’s curse. Though it is very difficult and hard to wake up at that hour, we both know going to that curse is the best we could be doing at five on the morning. It has been an excellent experience going with him and other people (all, almost our same age). We laugh, but also we have both learned a lot.

Though he hates reading, he loves writing, especially poetry. He has written poems since 6th grade. Though he does not like other people to read them, the ones I have seen are very good ones.

He loves music. He listen music whenever he can, especially while being on the bus, on his way to school. One of the best qualities Julio has is his great ability to play the piano. Sometimes, when the church need our help he and I always play, but he always plays the hardest song for the chorus.

Julio is very perseverant and almost always is from the best at school. Winning a class with a higher note has always been a difficult work for most of his class. He is not the best, but he is capable to do it. He dreams to be a doctor and study at the University of California on the United States. I am sure Julio will accomplish his goal. I have not known of a year in which he failed any class.

He fights for his goals, and he accomplish them. If you need someone to listen, you will have to listen his advices. I have learned a lot from him and he has always supported me, and I am sure he supports all the people who asks for his support and advises. He is not a great speaker, but somehow, he convinces you that what he is saying is right.

My Three Posts

Sometimes, it is hard to find out what some of your personal rituals are. We do some of them unconsciously. Some have become a habit. When you think about them, they can even sound funny. Most of them are very little things that happen almost daily. Things as little as hitting three posts before a soccer game.

            Ever since I was a little nine year old kid, I like to play soccer. For a long time I was asking my parents to enroll me in a soccer class, they finally did. Since the beginning of my soccer training, I liked to play as a goalie, which has always been one of my favorite positions. When I started I was not that good, well, I was not good at all, but I continued to practice and practice. My favorite professional goalie has always been Iker Casillas from Real Madrid, even though I absolutely prefer Barcelona, which is, by the way, the best team in the world, but I think he is the best goalie. Every time I see him play, I see he touches the top post of the goal.

Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to play like him and imitate him. I started doing that before every single game and before every single second half, with only one difference, I hit all three posts every time I play. The first post I hit is, as Iker, the one that is at the top. Since I was short, I couldn’t reach the post, so I had to jump as hard and as high as I could to touch it. Now I can touch it, so I do not have to jump anymore. The second post I touch is the one that is at my right. Then, I stretch out with the help of that post for some seconds. After that I hit the right post and stretch there, I run to the left post, and I do the same, hit it and stretch out there. When I finish hitting the three posts, I go back to the center of the goal and hit the top post for a second time. The three posts, each one very cold, especially when I play at night. Each of them has saved one or more goals that I could not save.

Then, I put on my white gloves, which are sometimes smelly after games, only after I have hit all three posts. Then, I put my water inside the goal, just before the game starts. I always do the same process before the second half starts with the only difference that I usually have my gloves on because we only have five minutes to rest before the second half starts. Unfortunately, hitting the post is not only something I do at the start or middle of the game.

Sometimes, when in the middle of an important game, someone, including me, makes a serious mistake that could cause us to lose the game or even the championship, I hit the post, but I hit it harder. It hurts, but sometimes, I am so mad that I hit it really hard and my hand hurts for one day or two. Sometimes, I hit the floor because it hurts less. Something else I do when I get mad because of an opponent’s goal is giving a little kick to the left and right posts.

             I am not sure why I do this, I am not superstitious. I do not even believe in good luck or bad luck. I believe that if I am going to win something it has to be because of my effort. I just do it because it is a habit that I have been creating since I was a little nine year old kid, and I will probably continue doing this for years and years to come until I stop playing soccer, which will probably never happen.