Maria Pavon
ENC 1101
Professor Irving
Oct 7, 2014

You Don’t Know What You Have until It’s Gone
It is amazing how many things we take for granted. We make plans for the day, and don’t think twice about how those plans can be taken away in the blink of an eye. I never thought much about it myself, until I was faced with the shock, and undeniable truth of my cousin’s death. I don’t think anyone really thinks about tragedy until they are actually faced with shocking news.
My mom had been going to school in San Pedro Sula a city from Honduras and staying at my Aunt Gloria’s house. She had been away for two weeks and wanted to come for Christmas. My mom had suggested that I go back with her and visit museums, shop, go to movies and just spent time together. I had been feeling pretty sorry for myself since she had been gone. I had been working a lot as a maid and helping my dad run the house, I was getting very irritated with my siblings as I felt that I was the only family member doing my part to help my dad. I was really excited to have a week with my mom myself. The whole ride over we were talking about what I wanted to do that week. Making plans and having “me time” seemed very important at the time.
I woke up Monday morning excited for the day I was going to spend with my mom. I was sitting at the kitchen table drinking fresh coffee listening to my mom and aunt tease and joke around about how paranoid my mom was about doing well in her classes, my aunt was telling her that maybe now that I was there, she should relax a little bit and have some fun. Our plan was to go to one of mom’s classes with her and then we were going to go to dinner and a movie.
We were interrupted by a phone call from my dad. My mom was still joking and in a silly mood when she started talking to my dad. Suddenly the conversation turned from joking to dead silence and my mom started