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I was born in Honolulu, Hawai’i. Hawai’i was the setting for almost my whole childhood, the first seven years of my life. This place was where I was the happiest, and it was where two huge miracles took place. This I believe, miracles do happen.

Naturally like most young kids, my sisters and I were always outside.  My parents’ one main rule was never to cross the street by ourselves. One particular day, my older sister Justine and I were across the street at our friend Emily’s house. My younger sister, Maija, eventually came outside that day and wanted to play with us. The street was her only obstacle. We did not really want to have to go through the process of getting our parents, so we told her just to come over. Besides, what could really happen with our three pairs of eyes watching her? Our three pairs of eyes never watched her cross the street. The only second we saw her in the street was as she screamed as a car came hurdling toward her. It was going unusually fast down a residential street. At the last moment before the supposed inevitable, it was as if a hand had stopped Maija and pulled her back just in time to avoid being hit. We all stared with amazement. How was it ever avoided? She was directly in the path of the car and would never have been able to move fast enough on her own. To this day, we still do not know how it was avoided, but I believe miracles do happen.

Another day we took a trip to the beach. It was literally just down the road from our house, so this was no rare occasion. But, the event that took place was extraordinary. It was something you would never have expected to happen to you.

Once again, begin little kids my sisters and I wanted to explore and play around. We decided to have a race to see who could swim out the farthest the fastest. Well, none of us were very good swimmers, so we used our “floaties” to help us stay above the water. As we swam along, Justine and I went way past the sand bar. A sand bar is a common place for shark activity. We did not know that. Eventually running out of energy we decided just to take a relaxing float back to shore. The ways carried her back faster than me, so I sat there alone. As I approached the shore everyone began to freak out. I never really paid any attention to it. Their fearful screams of “Get out of the water,” did not reach me. Time continued to pass, and I eventually reached the shore. As I usually did,  I turned around to look towards the water as I climb out of my almost watery grave. That was when I saw it. A shark had swam right beside me all the way to shore, while I never gave it any of my attention. If I had noticed it, it would have most likely attacked me, but because the panicked cries of the bystanders never met my ears, I never noticed. This is what saved my life. It was a miracle I did not die that day at the hands of a shark.

Many do not believe in miracles, but these two days changed my outlook on them forever. It was a miracle that both my sister and I were not taken either of those days. This I believe, miracles do happen.