Memoir

Carlos Flores
8th Grade ELA
Nov 20th, 2015


Goodbye
Twoyearsbeforedeath:mywholefamilyexceptminewenttotheDominican
Republicformyauntswedding.Whilethere,mygrandparentshadfoodthatmadethem
bothill.
Thedoctorscuredmygrandmother
Doloresjustfinebut
theyfoundcancerinmy
GrandfatherPedrosliver.
Thetacosdidntgivehimcancer,theyjustbroughtitto
attention,Huelohadaseriousdrinkingproblem.Forthefirstyearhehadterminalliver
cancer,myfamilydidntbothertoinformmeonthenews,butwhenitgotreallyserious,
mymothertoldthewholefamilyoneweekendonroutetothemallwithoutmyyounger
siblings.Atthetime,IdidntthinkmuchofitbecausemyauntRosiehadrecentlygotten
surgerytoremovecancerfromherstomach.Oneyearbeforedeath:alotofpeople
knewatthispoint,andmydadandmyGrandfatherwenttoMexicotoseeifherbscould
curehimbecauseaccordingtomydad,Americahasstupiddoctors.
Sofortwoweeks,
mydadandgrandfatherlivedinthedangerousandunpredictableplacesofMexico.
Dadsentuspicturesofwheretheywerestaying,
itwasa
tiny,threestorymotelthat
wasastormawayfromdestruction,theroadoutsidewasworndownandalmostgravel
,
butitwasforHuelo(Pedro)somydaddidntcareaboutthelivingconditions
Wewaitedsilentlyinthelightlydimmed,quietlivingroom
formydadandgrandadto
return,andwhenwehearthedoorknockandseethemcomeintheyareenclosedin
questions.Theystayedquiet,meaningthecancerwasindeedterminal...
Sixmonthsbefore:
allsevenofmygrandparentskidsspentmostoftheirfree
timesearching
theinternetforawaytoprovethedoctorswrongandcureHuelo.
My
dadreadupaboutthiswomanwhocuredherselffromterminallivercancerbyeating
2

nothingbutcarrots,anddrinkingnothingbutcarrotjuiceandwater.
So,forthenextsix
monthsmyFamilywouldgotothiscity3hoursawaytogetthebest,organiccarrots.I
forgotthenameoftheplacewewentto,butitwasthisorganicsupermarketthatwas
crawlingwithhipstersforreasonsInowunderstand.Itwaskindoflikeoutdoorishkind
of,therewereinddorsectionsandoutdoorsectionsthatremindedmeoftheflee
market.Anyways,itwasaveryexcitingexperience.
Onemonthbefore
:Threetimesithadhappened,thenthefourth,Ididntknow
howtoreact,ididntknowifIshouldcry,bedepressed,orjustshakeitoff,Iwaslost.
Huelosstomachhadgrown
toanunhealthysize,itlookedlikemyauntsstomachwhen
shewaspregnantwithherbabyMathew,whowon'thavetheprivilegeofremembering
hisgrandfather.
So,hehadtobetakentothehospitalforthefourthtimenow.
Hesbeen
spendingmostofhisnumbereddaysinahospitalbed.
OneweekBefore:
Myfamilyvisitedmygrandad
everylongandpainfulnighthe
hadleftinhim,Ishouldhaveknowthathewasonthevergeofdeathbecausemyfamily
keptcryingtheireyesouteventhoughhewasstillalive,butIstilldidntsuspectathing
whentheymovedhimbackintothehouse.
Now
Iknowthathecamebacktodieinthe
househemadetwentyyearsago,thehousethathassevenpinetreesgrowingaround
iteachonerepresentingoneofhissevenchildren,allthoughtshewillnolongerthink
of,peoplehewillnolongerlove.Itshisfault,hechoosetodrinkuncontrollablyandlet
thecancergrowinhisThenextdayduringgym,theycalledmetogohome,andmy
familytoldmethatmygrandaddiedinhissleepthatmorning.

Memories.

Once he passed,
I went through
one of the toughest stages in my life.Seeing
my whole family mewl, some for the first time in front of me, is one of the most
h
elpless sensations in the world.
After the funeral and burial,
I spent a lot of time
thinking of the valuable times I had with my grandad
. I kept thinking
back to when
we used to live our old house in the weeks after Hurricane Ike struck the
enormous
tree in my backyard that was at least one hundred years old, collapsed
in my
backyard.
I remember my grandad
playing with the wood like a
kid in a lego shop,
making sculptures from the diffused chunks o
f wood in the yard. For you, he said
while handing me a decently long wooden sword with a black painted handle and his
fingerprints on it for decoration. And this for you, he said handing
my sister a
red rose dug into a piece of cement which I dont even know how he obtained.

Thanks! we both shouted in spanish while running into the house to play with my
new toy.
I still have the sword
, its somewhere in my room, I just dont want to find
it because I would probably break down if I did.
Huelo always helped us with construction. He and my family built every house
we lived in, so when we were moving out to a new property of course he helped us
construct it Three years after we finished our new house,
we had some extra
construction materials including wood so my grandad started working on a two
story fort for us
. It wasnt the prettiest, but Huelo built it so it meant a lot to us,
not as much as now but it was still valuable to us.
I remember being too scared

to

climb the weakly planted silver ladder because

Huelo had not yet built the
staircase leading to the top floor.
Now the fort is rarely used, covered with leaves
from the tree above and it now looks like a beautiful jungle temple. T
hose great
memories with him will always stay tattooed into my mind, no matter the time
separating me and the moments.

Acceptance/Recovery
After Huelo passed, my grandma was left to live in their house by herself, and
because her husband had just passed away,
I could tell she was really lonely and so
could everyone else. To comfort her, the whole family(cousins, friends, and family I
had never met before)visited her literally every day.
I didnt mind
, it was basically
going to a party almost every day, except for the occasional cry session.
One day when
we entered the living room from the front door,
there was
this odd woman sitting on the couch, she was cld in a thick sweater, rolled up skinny
jeans and some boots.
We noticed her
because she stood out as the only pale
skinned person in the house.Shes probably just a friend of one of our uncles,
Vanessa whispers to me.
It turns out she was hired to help the kids and teens of
the family accept and recover from our grandad's death.
She started talking,Okay guys I know that youve recently lost your
Huelo
and Im so sorry. Anyways I want to start of by saying hes not dead, he just moved
on from this world, but you guys couldnt come with him which brings sadness to
you.
She started handing out a paper
and told all the kids to draw something that
reminded us of Huelo.
Khris, my brother, drew a bottle of beer,
and told it as a
joke,
I wanted to smack him so hard for laughing, but I shedded a tear instead.
The woman later called me into a room
with just me and her, she spoke to me
and made me understand the reality of what was happening. I didnt really want to
talk to her, she was just stranger.
I thought that she probably did not even care,

she just wanted to get paid and leave.

I could have never been any more incorrect

in any moment of my life.

Her name was Rylie(yes, spelled like that too)she had lost
everyone she loved in a housefire in 2007, the only people she loved are the people
she helped cheer up.
She was amazing, literally the nicest person I have met my
entire life.
When we left Grandmas house,
I had come to accept that
my grandad
was gone, and it was the truth.