My Smile
Savanah McGhan Barthel
I could not sleep the night before knowing I was going to see my grandparents. I could not wait to see the looks on their faces whenever they saw how tall I was. Driving to Phoenix was like a fantasy and once we got there everything was perfect. The moon was shining it dim light on the earth and the flowers were beautiful. Also, the night went perfect, everyone got along, and we slept perfectly. Then we hit a speed bump on the road on our way to my grandparents’ house.
It was about 6:00 at night when we finally arrived at my grandparents’ house in the desolate, hot city in Arizona. No bright moon and no pretty flowers only cactuses and sand and a little patch of fake grass. The house was beautiful though so was the backyard. I kept thinking about how much fun I was going to have with my cousin. Little did I know he was going to cause my pain later that night. Our night started nice, we went outside, and we made paper airplanes and played tag which I have so much fun playing. “Let’s play with the golf clubs, and hit some of the whiffle balls”, my cousin says excitedly. I agree with his decision even though I had no idea how to swing a golf club, let alone I do not even have a golf club because everyone else has one. While everyone else is doing their swings and hitting whiffle balls I sit there playing with the grass, when I noticed that I could play with a whiffle ball and just take one of the golf clubs from my sister. Walking behind my cousin swinging a golf club I spot the whiffle balls.” Make sure you check your surrounding and be careful”, I hear my Dad say in the background of all the noise. Then something hit me in the face, I did not know what was going on. Everything was in slow motion and everyone looked at me. I look down at my hand and see blood covering it. That is when reality finally hit me. I just got hit with the golf club my cousin just swung. That blood on my hands was coming from my mouth, and the pain finally kicked in.
My father rushed to me looking at me a taking my hand rushing me inside. My mom and my grandma sitting down talking, had their conversation interrupted with my sobbing and hearing my father say she must go to the ER mad my sobbing louder. While being rushed in the car by my Father and Grandpa I can hear my sister sobbing and begging my mom to let her come with me. Everything went so fast that I could barely keep up with my surroundings. By the time everything I started catching up with reality we were already at the ER. My father takes my hand as we rush out of the car with a towel over my mouth. In the building I felt like I was being looked at from all different angles. They took me all the way to the back room; I can feel my blood pulsing as I laid down. They took the rag, which was over my mouth, off and saw that it was dyed the color red. All the doctors kept asking question, but I did not think about anything. How could I, I was still in shock and sobbing of what just happened. I did not even know what happened to me. All I knew was that I got smacked in the mouth and was bleeding. I finally stopped sobbing when they decided they wanted to do an x-ray. The machine was a giant machine that scared me. It was like entering a cave. They told me there was nothing they can do. We are going to have to send you to another hospital, the doctor said as she is holding a needle. This will help with the pain; the doctor says while she stabs my arm with the needle. I continue my sobbing until I get to the bigger hospital where they take me into a small room, the waiting room, where I see a lot of people looking like zombies. Come with me, a nurse says taking me into a small room with a tv. I was visited by 7 doctors that night and taken to a bigger room where I was seen by 4 other doctors. That was until they told me new that crushed my soul. There is nothing we can do; the doctor says as I lay there ready to cry. When I go to the bathroom, I finally see the horrible crime that golf club did. In my mouth there is a huge gap where a tooth was supposed to be. I fractured my jaw apparently. They finally sent me home in the afternoon the next day. Everyone feeling bad for me even though I did not want their pity.
When finally getting back to my house we met with a surgeon who was willing to help me. Once in that chair I was happy that someone was willing to help me. After the surgery I saw wires throughout my whole mouth and them telling me that I could not chew for 2-4 months. These were the worst months of my life. When getting the wires out my mouth still looked awful. I thought I was never going to have a smile ever again. After all surgeries and seeing an orthodontist I got braces for 2 years. When I got them off, I looked in the mirror and noticed the smile I have always had, but just hiding. I am glad this happened because then I would not be as strong as I am now, I say out loud while writing by essay.
Savanah Mcghan-Barthel is 15 years old, and a sophomore in high school. She currently lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The reason she came to NMMI is because I need a better education since there are no good schools in Albuquerque. She like to play sports, and she is on the volleyball team at NMMI. When she graduates NMMI she wants to work towards becoming a lawyer in criminal law. She wishes well to everyone coming to NMMI.