My family and I were about to enter a life-changing event. I have 3 sisters. The oldest one is Bibis, she is a short, brunette, green-eyed girl. She rarely shows any emotions to anyone, she doesn’t really hang out with my family that much because she is away in college. The next oldest is Balbina, she is tall, brunette, and browned eyed. She doesn’t really show much importance to anything.  Then comes me, Roby, tall, brunette with brown eyes. I really do care about my family and worry a lot when something happens. After me comes my little sister, Vale. She is still small, brunette and browned eyed too. She’s still too young to understand problems, but she still cares about our family. My dad, he is strong when facing any challenges in life. He is the only man in the house, therefore has no option but  being strong and pamper all of my family in the bad times. My mom, is also strong, kind and worries about simple things with strong emotions. She overcomes bad times and tries to show strength even in the hardest of times.  As the majority knows, women after the age of 30 have to go take tests to confirm they don’t have cancer. It was my moms’ time to go, she went to the doctor here in Monterrey and the nurse told her she saw something but didn’t really know what it was. It could have been a false alarm, but my mom went to check it out in Houston and that is where it all begins.

It was a cold and drafty rainy day in the summer. A horrible day, the day that change how I view my family completely. It was one of the only days in the summer thats horrible in the middle of July. I woke up,  ate and got ready to go to a friend’s house. Everything was fine until I decided to leave my house. I went to my mom’s room to say goodbye as I always do to let her know I was leaving. When I was about to leave the room when she suddenly yelled, “Wait!” she took a small pause and continued, “I need to tell you something.”

My mom looked terrible, she had  a worried face and about to tell me the worst news I have ever heard. My mom shivered as nerves started to eat her up. I noticed she didn’t want to tell me whatever it was. She was nervous, she was rubbing her hands a lot. I had never seen her that blue. I wasn’t excited at all about what she was about to tell me but I had to know. So I just stood there in silence waiting for her to tell me. “Do you remember when I went to Houston to have a doctor see me?” I nodded my head to let her know I did remember. “Well the doctor just called me back.” Silence punched my mom in the face, she couldn't talk, I wasn’t ready for what she’d tell me, “ I do have cancer,” I felt my eyes getting heavier by the second. I couldn’t believe it. It was too much to take in all at once. I started sweating and my stomach started aching. I couldn’t take it, it was too much to bring in. I looked and felt like a person whom someone just told is about to die.

Then after a minute I stood there with tears rolling down my cheek and murmured, “And what does all of this mean?”

“Everything is going to turn out fine, don’t worry. I am just going to have to go to Houston very frequently for checkups.” My mom answered, in a struggling voice. She was as pale as an angel, like if she didn’t want to tell me.

I could barely speak, I was crying so much, I couldn’t see a thing. Horrible thoughts rushed through my mind. My mom was hugging me while I was breathing so my next question could come out, “And…  so…  is all your hair going to fall out?”

“That is undetermined right now, I am going to know for sure next week.” She told me with confidence that gave me the idea that the most probable thing was that she was going to keep all her hair.

Next week came along, thanksgiving break. My family planned to go to San Antonio that week for the second half of thanksgiving break.  My mom was anxiously waiting for the doctor to call to determine whether or not she was going to lose all her hair. The doctor called a Friday while my sisters and I were still in school. We got home ate and all was normal. At about 6pm my mom was combing and doing my hair for a party I had at night. All of the sudden Balbina entered the room.

“Is it true? Is it already a fact? Did the doctor call?” Balbina blurted out.  She looked devastated and in shock.

She looked like she was waiting for my mom to contradict what she told her.

My mom answered in disappointed “Yes, it’s true. How did you know?”

“I saw wigs in the screen of your computer.”

“Wait what?” I was paralyzed I couldn’t move, I started crying like crazy. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t picture my mom without any hair, of course how could I? I was extremely sad and terrorized for what was about to happen next.

“The doctor called and I am going to need the chemotherapy.” My mom was disappointed to tell us but eventually we would know.

“Oh no, I’m sorry.” My sister inquired and then left the room. I was left with my mom brushing my hair and making it nice. While she was brushing my hair silent tears were coming out my eyes. We didn’t continue talking about that because it just made me sadder and made me cry. After a while my mom finished doing my hair. I kissed her on the cheek, said thank you and left to the room.

In a couple of days we took off for San Antonio. When we got there my mom decided that she wanted us to cut her hair out, because she didn’t wanted to lose it all in chunks, and she wanted it to be meaningful. The second night in San Antonio we gathered as a family in a bathroom to braid my moms hair and cut each braid one by one. The braids were little, about a quarter inch wide. Considering my mom had a very little amount of hair we had to make the braids very small so everyone can cut a fair amount of braids. They were those tiny braids that girls do themselves when they're bored.

The first to braid my moms’ hair and cut it off was my big sister, Bibis, she is strong and mostly she doesn’t show her feelings to others. The second that she cut off the braid I started crying, my eyes were like a waterfall of tears. I tried not to cry so much so I didn’t get to the point where I can’t talk and becomes hard to breathe. But I couldn’t I got to that point rapidly.

“I can’t take this anymore!” The words came out of my mouth. I left the room and went to another room to calm down. I had never cried that much in my life. I felt weights pulling down my eyes. Then I breathed and rejoined my family. When I went back, my sisters had cut of a small amount of braids. The feelings hadn’t yet gotten to my little sister. I knew that because she was relaxed and calm. When I got there Balbina was cutting a braid. After her went Vale. Those weren’t the first braids they cut off. But after my sister it was my turn. I couldn’t do it. I started sweating like a pig, literally. I was breathing harder than ever and shaking like a grandmother. I gently grabbed my moms’ hair and braided it. That part was easy compared to what was coming.
My father gave me the scissors.

The waterfall was coming again.

My thoughts were bouncing up and down in my head. I said to myself  “get yourself together, you have to do this, for me, for my mom, for my family.” I couldn’t minimize the shaking it was too intense to stop it. I put the braid in between the scissors and my vision was very blurry because of all the tears that I was holding. I could barely see and that was when I forced my fingers to cut the braid. I saw my mom through the mirror while a tear left her eyes. It was my moms turn to cut a braid off. She braided it and cut it it looked easier and faster than I how I did it, but still she struggled. That was when my mom started to cry.  My mom looked very sad and terrifying about loosing her hair. She kept strong almost all the way through. It was when she cut the braid that she lost it and started crying. Seeing my mom cut the braid by herself made me realize how strong she is. I also realized that I shouldn’t be the one crying it was her who was affected in all of this, she should be the one crying not me. 

My dad tried to do a braid and it was good considering he is a man. He cut it off normally. But if you looked deep down you could see he was very sad but trying to be strong for all of us including my mom. My dad was calm even though I could see wild animals running inside him. He usually is calm and patient when it comes to being strong for my family.

I cut one more braid. That one was easier but not close to what my sisters seemed it to be.  When my sisters cut braids they looked totally calm and relaxed, it seemed like the easiest thing in the world. For me it was terrifying and I got very emotional. I think that the reason why it was that way was because I show more my feeling and I have stronger feelings than they have. The last braid was cut off by my mom. We all hugged my mom when we were finished. Then we took a picture of all of us with hats pretending to have short hair like my mom did. I was a tomato still with some tears in my eyes but I handled a fake smile and smiled for my mom. My mom set up the camera in timer and we all sat in the couch. “Three, two, one, Smile!” my mom said with enthusiasm. We all hugged again and separated into our rooms.

We all seemed happy as a family but if you looked deep down through our eyes you could see the sadness in each and every one of us. The moment of the picture was kind of cute because we all looked like our mom, which showed a lot of love in our family.  That moment was the closest and most loved moment I have ever experience within my family.

After about four months my mom finished the treatment, she got whatever operations she needed to, and was fine.  Everything had turned out fine, just like what my mom had told me since the beginning. Experiencing this was tough but when a family sticks together they can get through it all. Having this experience helped me appreciate more the people I love because I never know when an accident can happen and I can lose them. The lives of the people I know can end in any second, so I should appreciate every moment I have with them. This experience has not only helped me appreciate friends and family even more, but also taught me to stick to my family no matter what. I learned to have trust within my family. I learned that family is the most important thing we have and we should all cherish it. I learned that when there is a problem my family can fix it. Also, I got closer to my family in a way I can’t explain. Within all the things I realized and learned experiencing this life-changing yet very sad event in all of my family’s life. I realized and learned that I love my family. Even though I knew I loved them this made me love them even more.