We all have great moments in our life, but sometimes things don`t always go as planned. I know that first hand when I had to overcome an adversity that happened to me.

I pushed my way through the screaming and giggling 7th graders, reaching for the front doors like a life preserver. As I felt my hand grip the steel door handle, I exhaled. I silently celebrated my little victory and decided that day was going to be a good one. It’s a work out in and of itself to get through the waves of students crowded in the small waiting area in front of the doors. I wrenched the door open and felt the rush of warm air wash over my face and made my way to homeroom. It was March and still so cold. The other kids just hung out side until the teachers opened the doors, but I guess no one realized you could just come right in. Or maybe they did and just chose not to, either way they were crazy to stay out there in forty degree weather.  Whatever the case, I was usually always the first one to homeroom. I spun the combination to my locker lock with Olympic precision and speed, got my books out and shoved my backpack into my locker. I checked the time. Thirty-two seconds. I beat yesterday`s time. Little things like that kept happening throughout the day, and I was having fun. The day was perfect, until I got to science, my second-to-last mod of the day.

I half skipped, half walked into science class, one of my favorite classes of the day, with a smile on my face. I had just gotten back from language class, and we had finished watching Romeo and Juliet, the one with Leonardo DeCaprio in it. I sat down at my seat, which was arranged in groups that day. My teacher Mrs. Kamel stood up from her desk and announced we were going to learn about light refraction. She passed out clear gelatin and a laser pointer. We were to shine the laser pointer into the gelatinous substance and observe how the light refracted. Eager to start and still happy from the beginning of the day, I grabbed my laser pointer and leaned forward toward the gelatin cube. When I turned on my laser, the beam went astray and shined near another student in my class. I apologized, took better control of my beam and observed the project results. I leaned up, satisfied with my findings. Then I heard someone call my name, and so naturally I turned to see who it was. When I did, a blinding light hit my left eye, and I instinctively put my hand to it. My offender was the student to whom I apologized to for my stray beam. She snickered and said, “Ha-ha. That`s what you get!”

I had instantly felt a piercing pain in my head. It was excruciating. I rubbed my eyes and blinked a few times trying to see clearly. I couldn’t. I looked up at the light above me thinking that would help me see. It didn’t. Then I thought, “Maybe it’s just something in my eyes.” So I closed my eyes and rubbed them with more vigor this time. No change. I really focused in and realized I had a blind spot covering most of my left eye.  I couldn`t see out of my left eye. I laid my head on the table and began to cry. I wasn`t making a lot of noise, so Mrs.Kamel didn`t know what had happened until she arrived at my table to observe us doing our experiment. She noticed my stance and asked me in a concerned voice, “Are you alright, Lily?” I looked up at her and shook my head, still holding my injured eye. I probably looked pretty bad, considering that when I cry, my face gets splotchy and bright red, because she helped me to her desk, sat down, and asked me what had happened. I told her, and she sent me to the nurse with a friend to help me walk. I was in the nurse’s office for two hours. It felt like forever.  The nurse, Mrs.Fede, had given me some Motrin and made me drink a lot of water, but my headache pounded on.  Mrs.Fede had been on the phone for most of the time, calling the office, my mom, Mrs.Kamel, even other doctors. She was worried about my eye and didn`t really know how to treat a laser injury.

So I just laid down, wondering how such a perfect day at school could’ve ended so horribly. When my mom came to pick me up, she talked to Mrs.Fede for a little while then rushed me home.

I told my mom what had happened, and she immediately sprung into Mom Mode. After she got me all comfortable in bed, she practically flew to the computer and started researching any facility that could make an appointment for me to look at my eye. A while later, Mom came into my room and told me we were going to Johns Hopkins to see Dr.Yan in the morning. I sat there hoping he could fix my eye.

When I went to Johns Hopkins, Dr.Yan used many weird machines, hooked them up to my head and put me through a lot of difficult tests including the traditional letter chart. I always dreaded that chart when I went to my usual eye appointment for my glasses prescription because I had horrible eyes to begin with. The doctor turned off the lights and asked me to read the first line. I breezed through it, thinking “This won’t be too bad.” He pointed to the second line. I had to squint but got some of them. The next line. Now I could barely see anything. I tried to sound like I knew what I was talking about, but I wasn’t fooling anyone. I felt so stupid and helpless. After all the tests, Dr .Yan told me he saw no retina scarring in my eye and even showed me an X-ray scan. That`s when he told me my loss of vision may be permanent and only time would tell. My heart dropped. Keeping up with school would be hard enough, but I couldn’t imagine having to learn how to drive or just growing old with only seeing through one eye. I thought to myself, “I’ll never be able to do anything normal again.”

I went to school on Monday, seeing things differently. And not seeing other things. I went in with the rest of the kids that morning and walked slowly to homeroom, trying to act normally and not run into anything. Before I even got to my locker, all my friends were surrounding me like sharks, waving their hands in front of my eye, asking me if I was alright. I told them to just act as if nothing happened. The question was, could I act like nothing happened?

School had been rough for the couple of days that followed. It was hard to see the board, read with the class or write assignments, but I did my best. Soon my eye started getting better, the dark spot became lighter and smaller. I walked in to school faster, with more confidence. I opened my locker more quickly and smoothly. I timed myself again. Thirty-two seconds. I was back on track again.

This experience taught me to have faith in myself and not to jump to conclusions. Instead of being very upset about it, I should’ve looked at the bright side; that I would heal. But that would be anyone’s first reaction when they have been partially blinded and told it could be permanent. I was very lucky to have healed from an extreme injury like that and though I didn’t realize that at the time, I do now. I once felt cursed, and now I feel blessed. This also taught me that no one’s life is perfect. We all have ups and downs in our lives. We can choose to accept those challenges and disappointments or turn them away and not correct them. Some of us might think that everything horrible happens to them, but they don’t realize how lucky they are to have what they have. I always used to complain about how I can’t see, and my eyes were just so terrible. I still do sometimes. Then I got my injury and said to myself, “Hey. You’re lucky you can even see. Some people can’t see at all.” That opened my eyes to a whole new perspective. I also learned that God is everywhere, and He’s always with you. He’s there when you get an A on your test, He’s there when you plant your first garden, and He’s there when you sleep over at your friend’s house. He’s also there when you fall off your bike, when you get the flu, or when you lose your favorite pair of shoes. He’s there to celebrate with you through joyous times and there to carry you during rough times. He’s there because He loves you. I think when God saw I was upset about my eye, He was upset. He showered his grace upon me and made me better.  I am forever thankful to Him. So the next time you’re sad, or you’re at home sick, or just not having a good day, remember you`ve got plenty more great days ahead of you to make up for it.