Hello, and welcome to my sixth blog post! For this assignment we were asked to write a counterfactual to our blog five post, which was the memoir. We were told to read a few texts that shared stories and explained what counterfactual means and how to write it. A counterfactual is imagining how an event could’ve come to a different outcome, or picturing an alternate ending. We were asked to read a few passages that I have listed below, to get a better understanding of what counterfactual means. In my story I put a twist on it and pictured how things could’ve been different if certain aspects of the situation were changed.
It was a beautiful Saturday morning, and my high school football team was getting ready for practice. I thought to myself this day couldn’t get any better. We had our weekly workouts on Saturdays in the Spring to get us ready for the regular season. After an hour into our workout one of our hardest working linebackers went down to the ground. He stayed down for a little while, and coaches were trying to assist him and get him some water during that time. Eventually, the ambulance showed up and the rest of the team went back to our high school to wait and hear how our teammate was doing. I was sitting at a table with one of the assistant coaches and I asked, “Coach is he gonna be okay?” “We haven’t heard anything yet, but just pray that our brother will be alright”, he said. That really started to hit me. Time slowly went by and we still haven’t received an answer. Anxiety started to build up and I thought to myself, what if he never came to practice today? These off-season workouts were optional and I was just thinking, if he didn’t come today, then this wouldn’t have happened. He was such a hardworking kid, that it wouldn’t be realistic if he didn’t show up, but I could only think that. After a couple hours of waiting we heard the devastating news that our teammate passed away. We were all so shocked and heartbroken because he had so many goals that he wasn’t going to be able to meet now, and he was such a special kid. But something that came out later on was that he had a pre-existing heart condition that nobody ever knew about. Now my thinking has gone to, “What if he was actually aware of having a heart condition?” “What if he knew that he has limits and can’t go full force in practice, to the point of passing out?” This all could’ve played out way differently if that was the case. After days of grieving, the viewing was held at our school's church, which every member of the team attended. As we were walking out we heard a scream that said, “My baby! Noo, my baby’s gone!” This came from his mom and after that we all broke down crying. My brother, who was also on the team and was a year older than me, came up to me and gave me the biggest hug. I thought thank god I have my brother here with me because this was a really shitty time. I couldn’t imagine how that could’ve been different, if my brother wasn’t on the team. I needed that hug from my brother and have him tell me, “I got you dude, we gotta be there for each other, I love you.” This was the hardest time, especially since I was fifteen years old, it was difficult to process all of this. I knew that having my brother there helped me a lot, and if he wasn’t there, I’m not sure if I would’ve had the courage to be strong in that situation.
0 Comments
Hello and welcome to my fifth blog post. For this assignment we had to read a couple short stories called My Name is Margaret by Maya Angelou, and Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway. Two very respected authors, they bring some great themes to these short stories. I notice a theme of frustration in the two stories and they both do an excellent job of showing the events that happened, rather than telling. In my story, I connected a theme from the two short stories to an event that happened in my life. This story is an interaction I shared with my brother when we experienced a terrible moment on our high school football team.
My Name is Margaret (Maya Angelou) Hills Like White Elephants It was a beautiful, warm, Saturday morning in the Spring and my teammates and I started getting prepared for practice. Offseason workouts were always very tough, if you weren’t dripping sweat and completely out of breath, then you didn’t work hard enough. Everyone was in the best mood for practice, it was almost like this Saturday morning was too perfect to be ruined by anything. Then, towards the end of our workout, one of our solid linebackers went down to the ground. After minutes went by of trying to get him back up and awake, they rushed him to the hospital. “He’s in the hospital still getting looked at now, we will update you guys as soon as we hear of anything”, my coach said. Everyone panicking, “Is he gonna be alright coach??” “Just everyone, please say prayers that he’ll get through this.” After a couple hours went by and we still weren’t updated, we started feeling very uneasy. Then a post comes out saying “RIP Ryan, I love you brother”, and that is when my heart dropped. I just got out of the shower to read that and I immediately bursted out into tears. I talked to my parents for awhile and they were able to cheer me up, but the thought of one of my first friends at my high school passing away just didn’t sit with me. I questioned it a lot and I kept thinking, why him? He was such a hardworking, determined young kid who was striving for success on the field and in the classroom, and then he randomly gets taken away from us one day. After a couple days of grieving and sadness we had his viewing held at our high school church. With his whole family there too, it made everything so much worse. As were exiting the church behind the casket a loud scream cried out from Ryan's mom, “My baby! My baby boy is gone! Why God! Why!” That immediately brought everyone to tears and then my brother, who is one year older than me, walked up and gave me the biggest hug. His voice, shaky, “Come here, Brandon. We gotta be there for each other. This shit hurts bad right now, but we have to be there for each other, I love you man.” “His mom screaming just tore me apart and made it feel so much more real.” “This goes to show it can happen to anyone at anytime”, he said “He was such an awesome kid. He had so much going for him, this isn’t what’s supposed to happen to a fifteen year old kid. It’s fucked up.” “Everything we do will be for Ryan. If it was anyone else and he was still here with us, you know damn well he would be working hard and grinding. So let’s do that for him, it’s what he would’ve wanted.” “You’re right. We can’t take anything for granted.” “That’s right. I love you dude, I got you forever.” “Love you too man, always gonna be here for you.” After this conversation with my brother during that very hard time, it really picked me up. It was hard to stay positive in a situation like that, but knowing that my brother was there with me and knowing how strong we are together, made the situation much better. I forgot how to be positive at that time and even though my brother was soaked in tears, he managed to help me feel better and feel happier. Through a hard time like this, it truly opened my eyes to see just how important your family can be. |
Brandon Foy
I will use this blog to explore the messy processes of writing and to make meaning. ArchivesCategories
|