Overland Park, KS with a Few Epiphanies

"Michelle Obama's speech was so good, I want to hear it again! So, when is Melania making her next speech?"-Stephen Colbert

Today, we got to visit the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead in Overland Park, KS. This giant farm is a great place to go on class field trips &, in our case, with the family!

What I liked best about this place is that there is something for everyone. There are a tonne of histourical artifacts in the park. For example, there is an earthen lodge that tells you about the histoury of the natives in KS. There are a tonne of activities for the little ones. My cousins & Rebecca had a blast feeding the goats & eating their ice cream, along with many other activities that were available!

And this hasn't always been a part of the park, but the farmstead is a great place to go hunting for, you know, Pokémon! And the farmstead staff members know it, too!

At around 4:30, the entire family was chilling at the playground. I was talking about ice cream with Grandma Linda. We saw a boy who must have been no more than 9 years old fall on the concrete. The boy started crying and ran to a woman who must have been his grandma. She patted his head & after a few minutes, the boy was up & running again.

Grandma Linda was concerned about the boy. We all were, but he looked okay & the whole family went back to talking about politics again.

About ten minutes later, the same boy came running out of the playground with one hand on his head. He was bawling his eyes out and ran to his grandma.

"¿¡Ay, que te pasó?!" She exclaimed. She turned her grandson around & blood started gushing out of his head.

"OH MY GOD!" We all exclaimed in unison.

We all ran towards the lady. Grandma Linda started getting some napkins out of her purse & started putting the napkins on his head. The lady backed away, confused. We now knew that she either knew little English or no English. We didn't even have to acknowledge it to each other; the Brees family just started speaking Spanish to the wounded boy and the lady.

The lady was probably wondering how an American family could speak Spanish so fluently because she looked very confused. My dad started carrying the boy to the front desk and my mom advised the lady to call 911.

As everyone was running out of the playground, I saw a little girl crying on the playground stairs. I walked up to her & asked her if she was that boy's sister. She said she was & I invited her to come with me. She was hugging me & crying. I kept on telling her that her brother will be alright. The ambulanse came and after I filled out the eyewitness form, we decided it was time to head out.

I am still doing some soul searching on what I want to do with my life, but after today's events, I think I have gotten a few hints of my calling.

Sure, it felt good to speak my favourite language in the world, but at the moment, I wasn't speaking Spanish for my own pleasure. I was using the language to let this little girl know that her brother will be okay. I was using this language to get a message across.

I also felt a bit emotional when I was interpreting for the lady & when I was helping this girl feel better about her brother. After today's events, I feel good after lending a helping hand; who knew that helping others could make you feel so fulfilled?