Where I'm From

I am from parties, from make-up and high heeled shoes.
I am from the highest fron in my building
from the bright sunsets every morning
from the barks of my little yorkshire.

I'm from lemon trees in my grandmas backyard,
from the egg thrown at the neighbors house in Halloween nights.
I am from firework on New Years eve and curly long hair
from my dad's side of the family.
From Priscylla and Irving.

I am from long Sunday movie nights
and mass every Sunday mornings.
From "Sit properly" and "Don't bite your nails"
I'm from reading the Bible every night
and loving God under all circumstances.

I am from Texas, from Mexico, from Italy.
From cowboys, from burritos, and pizza.

I'm from the perfect mom
from dads promotions
from my sisters excellent grades
from my failing actions.

I am from memories
from snowy nights and hot days
from the tree that hold my family together
and from the branch that each day grows stronger.

The Disaster

It was March 11th, 2011. I remember it just like if it happened yesterday, the azure of the Japan's sky was different than any other regular day, it was darker something was wrong… I could feel it.

I was sitting in the Mitsuwa Supermarket bench, waiting for my little sister to pay for her M&M's, while there were two kids -who seemed to be about 8 years old- about 5 meters away from me, but their bantered was really audible from where I was; I stared at them to make them notice i was bothered by their sound, they just stared back and laughed even harder, I decided to ignore them, thats when I noticed my sister had taken a long time already, i looked at my clock, 2:45 p.m. going to 2:46 in about 20 seconds. I looked around, I couldn't see my sister anywhere, something inside me was telling me to go look for her, to keep her safe; but as soon as I got up, the floor started shaking in copious amounts.

I looked next to me, the two little kids hugging each other, not screaming, not reacting, just looking at me like if they wanted my help, I could't leave them alone but since the shakes were to strong it caused me to decelerate from my normal speed of walking. It seemed like if I could have never get to the little kids, I wanted to hold them, hold them safe.

When I got to them, it felt nice to know I was helping two little kids, they hugged me, I hugged them. I felt a pang of sadness when I thought of my sister being hurt because I wasn't with her, I couldn't stay there, it was crucial that I needed to find my sister. The shaking didn't stop yet, it seemed like if it had been happening for hours now.

"Im going to go look for my sister, stay here don't move" I told the little scared kids.

They just looked at me, I could see the fear in their eyes, I was scared too. I didn't wanted to start walking everywhere before I had any idea where my sister was, so I started looking fastidiously thru every shelf, cashier, person.

Cashier 5, there was a small girl beneath the table, crying, that was my sister. I grappled with the shakes to get to my sister, but once there, holding her, hearing her voice, hugging her, everything felt a lot better.

The shaking stopped, that facilitated my walking thru the store. Everything was destroyed, all of the things were in the floor, everybody was crying, this was a disaster.

Me and my sister walked out of the super market got into the car, we just wanted to get to our house safe and wealthy. I turned the radio on and the news were running around in all stations. The way they talked it revealed how adept they where at the topic.

"Earthquake with a magnitude of 8.9 just hit Japan, we might receive some strong aftershocks but please everyone stay calm, we are trying to do our best to get each one of you safe"

After a fitful experience like that one the last thing I wanted to do was hear more about it. My sister was quiet, she didn't seemed to be in the humor of talking… I wasn't either.

We got to our house it was 2:58, suddenly loud splashes could be heard from my house, I looked outside the window and it wasn't rain… I went to look for my sister who was laying in her bed, crying. I laid next to her, hugged her. I looked at my sister's eyes full of fear, I wished we weren't here,.I wished I could take care of her as much as my parents wanted me to. The sound of the splashes got louder and closer, louder and closer...

The Year of Magical Thinking

The title of this memoir is "The Year of Magical Thinking". This title can refer the ideas that one person can defend off a tragedy, even reverse a reality that they don’t want it to be true, by doing things in a certain way. It’s also giving you a piece of information of the main character Joan Didion, and how in her year she had the worst moments, and how she ignored/thought of them as if they hadn’t happened.

“The Year of Magical Thinking” is a story taking place in 2003, about a woman named Joan Didion whose is married to John Gregory and their daughter has been hospitalized with a so called flu, and put into a medically-induced coma. A little time passed afterward when her husband died from a heart attack. That’s when she found herself dealing alone with her daughter incurable illness and the painful memory of her husband been with her. This book is written after John’s dead but she also talks about when they lived together; and if you analyze what she says you can see that she did everything with her husband, they worked together, sharing and editing each other’s writing but now that he’s gone she feels like she doesn’t have anyone, and is really depressed in most of the book, but the book isn’t all about her husband she also talks about her daughter and how she relapsed and had to be sent back to the hospital. This book is the story of a year of her life full of sadness and poignancy. This book is full honest and makes you feel, by just reading, what she felt thru all that year.

This book is told chronologically through Joan Didion point of view, and it’s all in the present, even though there are many flashbacks which differ of dates and places.

Joan Didion comes to realize that when her husband died she couldn’t live without him, and go to the point where she was scared to do anything different that all the other days; she kept a routine for several months just because of the fear of changing.

This memoir is really descriptive and sentimental in all times. It’s amazing how in this book you can feel everything she’s feeling by just reading her emotional and full expressed lines, you can also learn how to deal with the loss of a loved one throughout this book; even though I wouldn’t consider this memoir one of my favorites since in my point of view it is kind of hard to understand.

LINES WE LOVE:
- It might take six weeks, even the whole summer and fall, but she will play tennis again. She will take pictures again. She will swim out of a riptide. Page: 48-49#
- Your safe, I’m here. Page: 55#