Un-Life Changing

The Un-Life Changing Event

Calista Bulacan

9/18/12

Mrs.Reagles L.A.

Memoir

To a little girl, outside is another location to get lost and explore.  You leave everything behind, your mom and dad, and you go and investigate this alien world.  Well, no question, this was my point of view of the world at three years old. 

                It was a party, a big family get together in California, and the dancing was in full swing. Hundreds of people crammed into a little park, known as a party hotspot.  My mother turned her back for a minute, greeting a relative she hasn’t talked to in a long time.  This is the moment I slipped out of her grasp, out of my restraint.  A three feet one inch child wasn’t exactly easy to find in a celebration like this.  Looking back on this, I could’ve told my mother I was leaving, but what three year old has the comprehension to do such a thing?  

                So, there I was, moving like a shadow in the night, unseen and as if I was nonexistent.  By this time, my mom had discovered I was missing and was now panicking, asking everyone if they have seen her kid.  I don’t remember if I had heard her or not, but I kept moving.  I was like a train unable to stop.  I finally maneuvered  my way of the party and was now out in the middle of trees with fall leaves beginning to crumble and fall.   Not turning to look back, which in this case was a bad idea.  I laughed, amusing myself by stomping on the leaves.  A slight breeze had begun to blow, and I realized I desperately wanted my sweatshirt.  A quick turn to run back in and find my mom, but now, I saw there were three different parties all right next to each other.  At my age now, I would easily be able to pick up which one was the party we were at, but my little self didn’t know and I wish I could’ve gone back and helped little me back to the party, but I can’t.  Time continued and I used my best problem solving skills (which, were not good at the time) and looked for someone to help me. Anybody.

                I watch the news on TV currently, see how kids are stolen, taken from their beds at night.  That could’ve, no doubt, been me when I walked up to a fisherwoman trying to catch a fish.

                “Excuse me!” I exclaimed tapping her on the shoulder, she turned to see me, “Excuse me!” I repeated.

                “Yes dear?” She asked smiling.  I pointed to the parties behind me, “What about those parties?”

                “My mommy is in one of them,” I explained my pigtails bobbing from side to side, “I’m lost.”

                “Your lost?  Well that’s not good now is it?   Can you tell me what your mommy looks like? Or what she’s wearing?” 

                I thought long and hard before coming up with an agreeable answer, “She has hair, and she’s wearing a shirt.” I was proud of myself for remembering this.

                “What kind of hair?” She calmly questioned.

                “The pretty kind.”  I answered.  The lady chuckled and took my hand to lead me to one of the parties to see if she was there.

                “Calista!  Cali!” shouts arose from behind us.  My mom, aunts, and dad were running to catch up.  “There you are,” my mom said pulling me into a hug.

                “Hi mommy,” I said unamused.  I didn’t realize the relief she was feeling at that point and the relief I should’ve been feeling too.  The lady who had originally helped me kneeled down.

                “Well, I know your name now, nice to meet you Cali.  Just so you know, next time don’t ask a stranger. You’re lucky I’m actually a life guard,” she pulled her badge out of her front pocket and revealed it to my mother. I didn’t know what the badge meant, or why everyone was so happy, but I was just happy to have been running around and having fun.

                “Mommy, I’m hungry.” I boldly stated.  Three words that were so irrelevant to the conversation at the time, but was enough to make everyone say thank you and goodbye to the kind lady and head back to get some food.

                There’s so many things you do as a child and don’t quite comprehend.  If we could only travel back and see what the past us was thinking at the time.  Why did I not feel worried?  How could I have forgotten what party I was at?  Questions arise everyday and if only….  crosses my mind every time my parents tell a story about me when I was little.  Maybe the child’s mind is supposed to be a wake-up call to the busy world.  They’re so carefree and happy, as some adults are so serious and secretly mourning over the death of their childhood.  So, overall, take a break and remember that pirate ship the couch once was.

EXTRA: (I called this the un-life changing event because, I wasn’t fazed at all by the event of being lost because it didn’t matter much to me, I just wanted food and my sweatshirt.  Yet, to others it taught them a lesson. So, to some it was life changing, to me it was The Un-Life Changing Event)