"My Lesson to You" by Valerie C

      When we are all very young we are taught to always impress a person with our manners. To make them feel respected constantly and always listen, never look distracted if a person is speaking, especially an elder! Always use formal language my parents constantly reminded me when I would forgot to say “Usted” , which is a way of establishing a formal relationship in the Spanish language. As I grew with manners embedded into my brain, my parents knew I would always be respectful to any person. So they unfortunately gave me a new lesson to learn, it was unfortunate for two reasons: 1. I had to listen to my parents 2. I learned this lesson sooner than I wanted to. My parents said to me, “Every person you meet will remember you one way or another, so always be the happy you, always be the positive you, always be the you you want people to remember when you are gone.” and since that moment I constantly wondered what they were trying to say. So I happily went about my life with my family, friends, and occasional strangers trying to always make them happy and laugh. It wasn’t until after summer 2017 that I realized being the happiest you and the best version of you is not only for people to remember you when you are gone, but it’s to remember the way you made others smile and glisten with happiness when they're no longer on this earth. See, the summer of 2017 my family of 20 plus and I went on a vacation to beautiful Cancun. Of course I was being the happiest version of myself because I had not seen half of my 20 plus family members in a while, it wasn’t until after this trip I would be entirely grateful to have gotten to be the best version of myself in front of some of the best people. It is inevitable to lose people in this world, as a matter of fact death is the moment in which people realize they have come full circle in life, death is the moment in which people ask themselves “Did I love this person enough?Did I ever disregard or disrespect something this person was saying? Was I the absolute best version of myself? Will they remember all the magical moments we all spent together? Did I truly make a difference in this person’s life?”. As I came home after an amazing family vacation I learned that two of the most vibrant men on that vacation had died no less than 24 hours of leaving our hotel. As hours and tears went by I began to remember moments in which life was great, moments in which I would see the two amazing uncles laughing at my smart remarks and resembling me to my father as they called me Valentina (a nickname I truly do hate and love). This is when I finally understood my parents lesson and it was really to make my mark in a person’s life. To make sure they knew they were dear to me, to make sure they knew I loved them, to make a statement in their life, and to be able to remember whenever it is necessary. After coming around to the lesson my parents had taught me I never had trouble remembering the great times I spent with with my family that summer. Of course one is angry when God or life, whatever you believe, takes people away for an unknown reason; but anger was no longer present in my life after this summer only memories. All that was left was the mark they had left in my life, the influence that was scattered in my life  because of them, the laughter given off and the images of happiness I was lucky enough to inflict in their lives as well. I was lucky enough to have them in my family and I am eternally grateful to have spent their last days with them. That being said, I am forever grateful that my parents taught me such a valuable lesson that reminds me to always try and put a smile on others faces because as subtle as a smile is the memory that comes with it is priceless. So, I pass this lesson on as a way of telling you to be the absolute best version of yourself while with others, as hard as things get the memories and the feeling of being apart of someone’s smile, someone’s laugh, and someone’s life is indescribable.