A Life Crazier Than This?
BY: MILA
Images by Winta Assefa
“I’m sorry,” the nurse told my parents. “She did not make it.” The doctor did not want to give up on me so he tried many ways to bring me back, and at last when he was about to give up, one of the nurses suggested turning me upside down and hitting my legs. That finally worked. Of course this was just the beginning of it all.
My name is Mila, and my life doesn't get any less crazy than when I was born. I mean, my life did start with me coming back from dying, so of course it’s going to be crazy right? Well, as I got older I started facing many health problems. I was told that I would not make it past 2 years old. Because of this, my parents decided to move to Canada. This was not only for my health but for them as well because conditions in the Philippines were very harsh. My dad got shot twice and my mom faced many harsh things staying in the Philippines. So, in 2010, we eventually moved to Canada.
We thought that it would be a better life and we would get better living conditions, but that was where we were wrong. Things got even worse for us the moment we got to Canada.
Shortly after we came to Canada and my younger sister Ivy was born, she became the most precious thing to me. After Ivy had been born my aunt Luna and Uncle Jack had started to become verbally violent with my parents and me. This was because everyone wanted my mom to have a boy but instead came another girl.
At one point, my mom and sister Ivy had gone to India for a month and this was when things got really bad. I was on call with them and started crying because I missed my parents. At this time my dad was at work and so after my mom and sister Ivy cut the call, Luna started screaming at me for crying. Later that week, my cousin got McDonald's for dinner. Luna didn’t buy me anything so I asked for one chicken nugget and was told, “No you’re just jealous of the fact that we have so much money and we can afford to buy food for our kids but your parents can’t buy you anything.”
I remember the month my mom was gone I had barely eaten anything. A little while after she got back, I ended up getting really sick and needing to go to the hospital. I was admitted to the hospital for a month and a half and those were the happiest days I had throughout the time I had spent in Canada. After this my sister Everlyn was born and I was really happy about this because I had always wanted another sibling, but I felt bad because of the environment she was born into and would grow up in.
Less than a year later, my aunt, uncle and parents had gotten into a huge argument over something. Lunas and Jack kicked the five of us out during winter with nothing but the clothes we had and the bed we bought with our own money. Us kids who were less than one, 5, and 8 years old. Right at that moment my dad started looking for a place to stay and the next day we were moving into a basement with nothing much. My mom was very mad about the fact that my dad had made us move away from our aunt. Eventually, she had cooled down and we started to slowly adjust to our new home. There were nights where my parents did not eat and some nights where all five of us didn’t eat. Living in the basement were some of the worst nights we had since moving to Canada from the Philippines.
During these times I met my best friend Mia, the one person who stayed by my side no matter what, the one person who supported me through everything. She was the one person who made me so happy, the one person I could trust. Eventually as time went by, my parents worked hard enough and we ended up moving into a bigger house with our aunts Amelia and Emma. We had the best times, dancing, acting like kids, pranking each other and so forth. At this point, Luna, Jack and their kids' lives were starting to go downhill. Because of this, they ended up coming to our house. They started arguing with my parents saying that they ruined everything for them and even proceeded to say, “Your daughters are a waste of time. They will not be able to make anything of themselves and are completely useless.”
This was the last straw not only for me but for my parents and aunts. They all told them to get out of our house and this was the best thing that my family had done after years of being controlled by them.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hi, My name is Mila. I am someone who loves writing and sometimes reading. I used to be someone who cared about others opinions and let others control me, but looking back at everything I changed that. I love exploring new things, going out and being free. My most favourite thing is late night drives as those help me gather my thoughts and feelings. I’m always doing what I love and it helps me be who I am as well as be more confident!
