Not your Ordinary Lesson Learned

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same"

My high school, Lourdes Academy, has sponsored a poor orphanage/boarding school in a small town in Ecuador for ten years. Mindo is located about two hours away from Quito, the capital city. Two years ago, the woman responsible for taking a group of girls every year came and made an announcement in one of my classes. She passed out applications and said that only 12 girls would be picked. I went home that night and discussed it with my parents, and although they were a bit skeptical because I was traveling to a third world country without them, they decided it would be a worthwhile experience for me; and that's exactly what it was. I filled out the application and got picked! When we drove into the school and stepped off the bus, a bunch of kids came running towards us, hugging us, and grabbing all our luggage. All these kids had dirty clothes, some of them didn't have shoes, and yet they had these huge smiles on their faces. You may be wondering why I started off this blog with this particular quote. On that first day I was there, me and this other girl form my school were playing with a bunch of kids in their playground when a little boy came up to me and asked me to push him on the swing. After that, John and I became inseparable, and I spent the remainder of my 10 days there with him. Although he was poor, he had this amazing smile on his face all the time. Every time we would find each other to play, he would run up to me jump onto me, and give me a huge hug. Leaving him on that 10th day was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Luckily, Spring Break of my senior year I was given the opportunity to go back to Mindo. I was so excited see John, and all the other kids I had made freinds with the summer before. Reuniting with John was one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had in my life. We again, spent every day together, and I really don't think I've ever loved someone like I love John. He taught me something that I don't think any other seven year old in the world can teach me: materialism isn't everything; money isn't everything; and being truly happy does not require these things. When that last day came, I knew I had to face something I really didn't want to: saying bye to John. I just wished that I could take John home with me, and give him the life that I thought he deserved. John came up running to me, as he usually did, but this time, his eyes were full of tears. I began crying, and he hugged me, and then he whispered into my ear, "Daniela, te quiero." This broke my heart, and one of my friends had to pry us apart because our bus was leaving. Although I do not know the next time I will see John, we've talked on the phone on occasion and there's not a day that goes by that I don't think of him, or the lesson he taught me.