Elena+Elias

//THE FRUIT FROM THE TREE//


 * //"Daddy, I’m tired! Why can’t we drive?” I complained with my little five year old voice. Exhausted, I dragged my feet up the hill to get to my grandma’s house; I felt earth’s moist soil under my bare dirty feet.//**
 * //“Elena, you do not need cars when all there is around you is natural beauty. Enjoy the experience,” my dad said, “look at your surroundings, what do you see?” Wandering into the open meadow, I took a look at the beautifully painted sky. It was a nice shade of blue with scattered clouds. The bright sun was hiding behind the dancing trees, and peeking through so the rays of golden light touched the tall, twinkling grass. I felt the slight breeze across my face, and smelt nature’s fresh scent.//** So this is what Puerto Rico smells like, there was only the irreplaceable smell of nature. **//Studying the trees, I ran over to one with the most golden lights. The tall prickly grass was hitting my skin, making me pause and scratch my legs. Standing in front of what looked like an old, magnificent tree, with its branches hovering over my shoulder, I saw the golden lights. I cupped my hands and the lights fell into them.//**
 * //“Daddy, look what I caught!” Sprinting with my hands still cupped, I showed him the light.//** It wasn’t there, where did it go? Did it accidently fall out of my hands while I was running? **//Angry, I was about to go search for my missing light, when it was replaced by a fruit my dad had picked from the tree above us. The fruit tasted juicy, making my taste buds dance- even I was dancing!//**
 * //“See, you don’t need malls or rollercoasters to have fun, the best type of fun can be found playing with nature. Even I as a little kid used trees to play tag, jumping from one branch to the next! All you need is your imagination, and you can create your own world of fun.” I was suddenly amazed on how the simple things in nature can make things so enjoyable. Handing over the half eaten fruit, my father pointed out a bird feeding its baby in a nest far above the ground.//**
 * //“Nature will always be around us, as long as we respect it.” And with that he carried me on his back all the way to my grandmother’s house. I never really understood what my dad had said that day, but now I do. Nature gives us so many things, but if you take it for granted and don’t respect it, all of nature’s fun will be gone - and so will the fruit.//**

**//SOMETHING WE CAN NOT CONTROL//**
 * //I glanced behind my shoulder and saw that she was right behind me. Quickly, I turned the corner and dashed down the road.//** Finally, almost there**//. Sprinting past the line of trees that divided my house from my neighbors, my hand finally reached the car we called base. In a short amount of time, my friend stood right next to me, both of us were breathless. We walked down the road to the dead end, and parked ourselves on the curb.//**
 * //“Ok, this time I’ll be it.” Agreeing with my suggestion, she ran down the street and I followed her after 10 seconds. It didn’t take me too long to catch up with her- I targeted her right shoulder, aimed, and fired. Surprisingly though, I missed by half an inch.//** Shoot! **//I thought to myself in disappointment. Jumping over the broken tree branch that had caused my fire to miss, I caught up with my target quickly. But all of the sudden, she stopped, turned and paused the game by saying the two words, “time out.” Having a concerned look on her face, I followed her to the tree branch that had fallen on my yard.//**
 * //“When me and my dad were walking, he pointed out a birds nest on the exact same branch. We saw a big mama bird vomiting in her baby’s mouth, my dad said she was feeding it.” My neighbor was two years older than me, making her in fifth grade. I only get to see her on the weekends, but on those days I usually have soccer. So whenever I don’t have soccer, like today, I spend as much time with her as possible.//**
 * //“I wonder- THERE IT IS!” I screamed, pointing at the baby bird on the ground. We huddled around it and studied its movements. The little baby bird was bobbing its head up and down.//**
 * //“I think we should call your mom and dad to come and take a look, I should call my dad too.” Approving of her idea, we met five minutes later. The parents took a look at the bird and decided to put the bird in a box filled with grass. My father picked it up with his bare hands and cautiously placed the bird down in the pile of grass. The fragile tiny bird was still bobbing its head up and down.//**
 * //“It’s probably hungry,” my friend’s dad suggested. He is probably one of the coolest dads there is. Always making funny jokes, a really good cook, and always tells us interesting facts. Plus, he is probably the one that has the most experience with animals. His house is like a zoo, 31 snakes, 15 fish, 2 lizards, a dog, and a cat.//**
 * //“You want to feed it something like shrimp, or worms. But if you are going to feed it shrimp, you’ll have to cut it up into very small pieces, that way when the bird swallows it whole, it won’t choke.” My mother fed it as instructed and put it under the sun. My neighbor went home and my father kept an eye on the bird while fixing his car.//**
 * //“Mommy, is the big birdy ever coming back?”//**
 * //“I don’t think so, Elena. When a mother bird leaves its baby(s) to find food, it leaves them in her nest alone. This unlucky baby fell out of its nest, and since it was touched by humans, it now has human scent on it- in that case, the mama bird abandons it.” Regretting even asking the question, I thought to myself,//** what a cruel thing to do! **//I went over to check on the bird. It was just lying there, enjoying the warmth of the sun.//**
 * //“It’s okay little birdy, we will take care of you. That way you can turn in to a big and strong bird.”//**
 * //The next day the bird had died. I found it lifeless, with a shining light over it and blankets on the dining room table. My mother squeezed me as the tears full of disappointment swam down my face, my heart was sore, thinking of what could have been- and what never was.//**
 * //“Mommy! How could this happen to such a small little bird?”//**
 * //“I know Elena, but there was nothing we could do, it’s something we have no control over. We did the best we can, but we are only humans, not animals,” she explained to me, “but, if you want, we could dig a grave for it, and the little bird could grow up in animal heaven! Would you like to do that?” I nodded, wiping my nose with my sleeve.//**
 * //After we had built the grave, my father put the bird in it and covered it with soil. In a way, I was happy for that bird, even though it had not lived its life to the fullest; it was going to a better, happier one- and it was time to except it.//**

**//BEING PART OF A TEAM//** **//Authors note//**
 * //As a little girl, I was basically born into what I call the soccer family circus. My sister played soccer, but had quit at a young age, my brother had played soccer, but quit when he was at the age of 18. Being the youngest though, my parents had learned a lot about the mistakes they had made in the past with my two older siblings- and took what they learned to raise their third and last child. Now, I feel like it’s my turn to play the sport, and to maybe someday, grow up to be a professional at what I do best. It takes a lot of work to want to grow up, and be a professional athlete. If you even want a shot in being a professional, or at being anything, you have to be determined; you have to want it more than anything in the world. In my case, I would need to put everything to the side and for an hour or two every day, practice, practice, practice.//**
 * //“Get up Elena, time to practice.” Sometimes, my dad makes me practice at the most unpredictable times. In this case, I was on my couch relaxing, after a long day of school.//**
 * //“I don’t want to! I had soccer yesterday, and I have a soccer game tomorrow! Can’t I just relax today?”//**
 * //“No, I know it’s a lot of hard work, but it’ll pay off in the end. Remember, this is your training for the ODP (Olympic Development Program), just because you made the first cut off do not mean that you will make the actual team.” See, he’s already planning my future out for me. In the month of august, my father had told me that I had tryouts for the state team. Ok, first of all, he didn’t even ask me if I wanted to try out, he just signed me up without my opinion.//**
 * //(THE DAY I FOUND OUT ABOUT ODP)//**
 * //“Whoa, WHAT!?! You never told me about this! You never even asked me!”//**
 * //“Well, do you want to?” I was shocked he asked me that. Obviously I made it clear through my tone that I did not want to. But of course, it was too late now; he hadn’t given me a decision. I nodded and said the magic word, “yes,” meanwhile in my head I was thinking//**, who does he thinks he is! I don’t have a say in any of this? Trying out for the ODP means that you actually have a chance at being a professional soccer player! But what if I don’t want to be! And why is he telling me this five day before the tryouts! I can’t digest the news quickly enough! I need more time! **//But of course, I stood up, and walked over miserably to the ball. Passing against the wall, faster and faster, then it went on to passing it up in the air. Those were the basics, I already mastered that. Being a midfielder, it is my job to make the plays, get it to the forwards to that they can do their job. Making it look easy was my job on the soccer field. Next it was time to work on aim. I’ve been doing this since I was a little kid, so when my dad tosses me the ball in the air, I should be able to hit it at his belly (which trust me, isn’t that hard to miss). Over and over and over again, we practiced aiming the ball at his belly. Perfection is our goal, so all the little, difficult to master techniques, has to be there. My foot has to be pointed in a certain angle, I have to get my leg to the perfect height, and I have to time when the ball should come, and when the ball should hit it. This is kind of like when a quarter back has to make the play in football. When the quarter back gets the ball, he has to look for an open player, and throw it perfectly so that the ball is in the players reach. Same thing with midfielders and this aiming thing is perfect for that. After 10 minutes of that, we go on to dribbling around the cones. Placed in front of you are two or three cones that act like defense. Your job is to dribble around them without the ball touching them. This may sound easy, but it’s actually one of the most difficult things that a soccer player has to practice. It helps them with their dribbling skills, so they can control the ball with not only one foot, but with two feet. I have to box around the cones, tap the ball around the cones, and even dribble backwards around them! 20 minutes of this and my practice is done for the day.//**
 * //But sometimes, I don’t give up that easily. Sometimes, a simple question, can lead to a nasty, foul, horrible fight between my parents and I.//**
 * //(FIGHT WITH MY MOTHER)//**
 * //“No, I don’t want to practice today! You guys make it seem like I’m going to grow up to be a professional or something. I don’t even know what I want to be yet!” The love that I had for my parents was slowly burning, into a hot, immense fire. And as the fire got larger and larger, the fights matured more and more. “I mean, just listen to Dad, he already has my plan for the future already set up! How does he know that I want to do that! Just because he wants me to do it, doesn’t mean I want to! He automatically assumes! It’s sickening that he wants me to be something that I’m not!” Ok, so maybe I over exaggerated a bit on this sentence. I was blinded by hatred for what my dad was doing, and I know screaming and yelling isn’t going to solve anything. But they don’t understand, it feels like I’m not playing for me anymore, I feel like I’m playing for them. Playing soccer, I used to feel like I was having fun, but now soccer is more of a job than an activity. This particular fight, I’m having a malicious conversation with my mother. She knows what I’m going through, she – in a way, understands me more than my Dad does.//**
 * //When she was in Japan, she played basketball all her life. And when she was just 14, she went to regionals but lost in the second round. But, when she was in junior high, they won all of it. So how this has to do with any of this? Because, the team needed her. She had to play through injuries, whenever she got sick she had to take a shot, and had to be to every practice (five days a week and games on weekends).//**
 * //“Well, your father’s just trying to do what is best.” My mom said steadily. Yea yea yea, that’s like saying, it’s not you, it’s me to the heart you’re breaking.//**
 * //“Didn’t you ever get tired of basketball, ever?”//**
 * //“Well yes, but it’s just a stage that every athlete at this age goes through. Getting through it makes you a better player.”//**
 * //“Yea and look where you ended up! In a doctor’s office working for someone that you hate!”//**
 * //“Hey! YOU THINK I WANTED TO GIVE UP BASKETBALL! MY COACH WANTED TO TAKE ME ALL THE WAY, BUT MY PARENTS MADE ME QUIT! THEY DIDN’T WANT ME DOING THE THING I LOVED THE MOST ANYMORE! I’M JUST TRYING TO GIVE YOU THE OPPORTUNITY I NEVER HAD AS A CHILD GROWING UP! YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME, EVEN IF I AM YOUR MOTHER!” Her words hit me, slapped me, threw me through walls, punching me in the nose. My train of thought was at battle with each other. On part of the train wanted to say nothing back at her, and understand what she is trying to do for me, while the other part wanted those words of hatred to strike back at my mother. The hate train got disconnected, and the fire that replaced my love died down. Slowly, I walked back to my room, thinking about what I had just heard.//**
 * //I know in the beginning of all of this, I despised the idea of practicing. But the game of soccer itself and being able to play it is an amazing feeling. The feeling that you get when you feel like you belong there, like you were meant to be there. Playing soccer is like second nature to me. Being with my friends, having a good time, is what it’s all about. But sometimes I forget why my parents do the things they do for me. Soccer has made me realize what doors my parents had opened for me, and whether I’m going to enter them or not.//**
 * //My name is Elena Elias and I am a 13 year old girl living in Edison New Jersey. I am the youngest coming from a family of five. Writing is one of my favorite things to do; it’s where you can let your mind be free. In the story, “fruit from a tree,” I was five, in Puerto Rico with my family, and I surprisingly don’t remember anything but this one particular memory. The wise man in the story is my father, teaching me a life lesson on how to treat nature. Now that I am mature enough to understand what it means, I realize that not everybody treats nature as they should. I wrote this story in hope that people will begin to realize the beauty of nature all around us. “Something we cannot control,” is about a baby bird whose mother abandoned it. In the memory, I was in third grade enjoying life as much as I can. When the baby bird dies, I didn’t know what to feel but pain. That is until I found out that there is a happier after life, and to know that the baby bird was going there was good enough for me. I know how hard it is to move on but sometimes excepting things the way they are doesn’t leave you left behind in the past. The last memory I chose was about soccer, and how it had made me recognize so many things. There are so many doors all around just waiting to be opened and stepped into- so why not just do it? Because between you and that door are so many obstacles and fights you have to get through in order to reach it. Once you stepped through that door though, there’s another set of obstacles and fights you have to get through to reach the next door. And maybe, someday one of those doors might be locked, and there is no way to get it open- that’s why you have to take advantage of every door you see, because opportunity only knocks once.//**