I always thought the fastest way for a teenager to mature and care for someone other than themselves would be with a surprise pregnancy. Growing up from someone else’s pregnancy had never even crossed my mind until I was placed in the middle of this situation. It all started at Wendy’s when my sister, Milagros, and her boyfriend, Hector took me outside because they wanted to have a “talk” with me. Thinking I was in trouble, while we walked outside I was mentally preparing myself to be yelled at. It was the middle of January and the air outside felt cold, which didn’t make me feel any more comfortable with the talking situation. Once outside both of them just stared at me as if they were waiting to see if I would come clean about a crime I didn’t know about. Finally Hector spoke and said,”How do you feel about this? You’re going to be an aunt!”
At this point I was speechless and I didn’t know if I should be glad I wasn’t in trouble or be concerned or angered by their news. I decided I was ecstatic about the news and congratulated them, but I will never look at a Wendy’s the same way. The easy part for Milagros was now over and the scary part was about to begin. How to tell my aunt? Well, I can say that for that one I didn’t want to get involved, so she was on her own. After hearing the news my aunts exact words were, “I told you to go on birth control!” She wasn’t very angry that it happened because she knew on some level my sister wanted it.
Ring Ring Ring. I thought to myself, “Who could possibly be calling me at five in the morning?”
On the other line I heard my sister calmly say, “I’m at the hospital I started having contractions.” Her serenity surprised me, I would’ve thought that by the time she got to the hospital she would be in a screaming frenzy just how it is shown on soap operas.
Still half asleep all I said was, “Wait what are you talking about? Right now?”
“Yes can you please come,” she replied. An hour later I walked out of the cold outside into what seemed to be an even colder atmosphere inside the hospital. I walked along the blue walls and entered the metal box that would take me to my sister’s floor. Apparently a lot can happen in an hour because all I heard when I opened the door was my sister yelling, “Hector this is your fault you did this to me!” I couldn’t help but laugh at how my sister turned to blame her boyfriend for something that had to have taken two people. My first impression of my sister that morning was how her hair was out of place, her face as red as a tomato, and her voice piercing through the air. It did not take long for my mood to change from excited when I received her call to completely terrified after seeing her. I had never seen my sister in such a vulnerable state and I felt powerless seeing how I could not take any of her pain away.
The next few hours seemed to go on without end and my sister screaming, “I can’t do this” didn’t help the situation. As I waited in the waiting room the only thing that crossed my mind was the repetition of the color blue, blue walls, blue carpet, blue chairs, blue tiles, and blue frames. This color only made me feel more uneasy and nervous. Although the chairs had cushion they were still hard and uncomfortable causing me to feel awkward and toss and turn in them for hours. At around one Hector came outside and told me to come into the room. A few seconds later the doctor proclaimed the arrival of a baby girl. Filled with joy I looked at the little baby girl that had caused so much commotion in a matter of a day. After being examined we were told she was perfectly healthy and a sigh of relief was heard from everyone in the room. Suddenly the room didn’t feel so cold and eerie anymore, now it was warm, comforting, and filled with joy.
As soon as I carried my niece, Joanna, I felt something different inside of me. All of a sudden I felt a new kind of love that I had never felt before. My sister was 18 years old when she became a mother and I was 16 when I became an aunt. I would have never guessed that this little life would teach me so much and change me. I have seen how much my sister has grown and matured since becoming a teenage mother. Stereotypes are not always true and my sister is proof of that she has proven everyone wrong. She is making something of herself in life all while taking care of a child, household, and working.
As for me this event had such an impact in my life that I grew up from it in the sense that I realized you don’t have to have a child yourself to care about someone’s life more than your own. Although I don’t take care of my niece I still feel that she is my responsibility, and it is up to me to make her proud and set an example for her. I am now more motivated than ever to pursue my dreams, so that when she grows up I can be someone she looks up to and is happy to call her aunt. I always knew I would love my niece but I never through it would be this much. She is now two years old and I can say she came into our lives to change everything. Not only did I learn a lot from this experience but I also received hope that even in the worst of times something good can always come along and surprise you to make your life better. In a way I could say that my niece came along when I most needed someone and without even having the ability to speak she saved me and gave me new reasons to live on and move forward from the events of the past.
