McGinnis 1
Patrick McGinnis
AE1000-31
Level I
28 August 2014
My Bittersweet Birthday
What had happened to me on December 17, 2007, gave me a memory I will never forget. My birthday in 2007 defines the word bittersweet. Waking up to everyone in my family, besides my dad, throwing up could not have been worse considering my birthday was the next day. As soon as my dad left the house, I hear my mom screaming, "Morgan, Patrick, GET DOWN HERE NOW!" My sister, who had been shaken by a babysitter when she was eleven months old, had passed away right there in her room at age thirteen. My older sister was a lifeguard at the time, so she knew how to give CPR, and that is what she did to try to keep my sister from leaving us. Therefore, I knew right then my birthday would never be the same again.
English: Christmas dinner with the Higlett family....
English: A family dinner in Paris
ЧесницаMy mom called 911 while my sisters and I were upstairs staying out of the way, but crying in each other's arms. This was a horrible thing to happen the day before I turned thirteen. It is a family tradition to go out on a birthday dinner, but this year it was different. Instead of going to dinner, we were busy making plans for the wake and funeral. We also had to deal with all the family and friends who kept coming by to comfort us. To say the least, there was no celebrating on my birthday, only mourning the loss of my big sister. There was chaos on how our family would get through this, but also how we would celebrate my birthday. While everything was going on, my dad came up to me and said, "We will have to postpone your birthday dinner until...