Saying Goodbye

July is about to end and Miranda finally sees her friend Sammi. She is about to leave town in search of a better life. Everyone knows that leaving town is the best thing to do in this case, but still, Miranda’s family stays. On the other hand, Miranda’s dad and her wife, Lisa, stay in the house for a few days, when they left everyone knew that they will never see each other again; they didn’t know who will survive and who will not. Miranda feels insecure and does not know what the future holds for her and the ones she loves the most.

Cold weather has started to be more present and that means that it is time for school. Again. Because many families have moved out or are sick, there is a lack of students and teachers this year. Miranda is afraid to go to the only high school open but it is the only thing left so she decides to go there. But within a few months the school was closed so she ended up in homeschool.

The town became an insecure place. This is because now there is no police or fireman or anything, just the few people who go out occasionally just to buy things like gas or food. Everyone is on their own.

Life is more boring, there is no electricity or things to do, just Miranda and her thoughts. No one has a purpose for anything or the motivation to accomplish something in life. Miranda starts to feel insecure and alone until she hears from her dad. He had wrote two letters for the family.

Miranda finds a new motivation in life because now she has to be strong for the whole family because her mother had an accident and is in the hospital. She has a sprained ankle, making her weak and incapable of being the support of the family. The good thing about this situation was that because of Peter she got the medical attention she needed and was able to return home safely. 

Natural resources in the Earth have started to disappear, things such as gas or fruits are no longer available. The library has also closed, leaving just the post office and the hospital open. Temperatures have also dropped dramatically forcing Miranda’s family to move downstairs in order to preserve heat.

Megan, one of Miranda’s closest friends, died. This really made Miranda think about the effect of the moon in the world. Everyone was dying and now her friend was one of the victims.

Miranda’s mom hurt her ankle, again. This means that Miranda had to be what holed the family together in such hard times. Mrs. Nesbit, a close member of the family was also seek and had to be well taken care of until she died. Mrs. Nesbit had always been stubborn lady but even in her last moments on Earth she seemed happy, but that is just how life is and the whole family had to adapt to it.

This picture represents how the future is such as
mystery. 

This few chapters have been really eye opening in terms of how fragile life is and how your future can change in just a matter of seconds. This can be shown in the following text when Miranda says:

“I wonder if they imagined the future. I bet they never could have guessed what things would be like today” (Pfeffer 213).

This small section of the book shows how everything we do has an effect in our future. You can call it faith or destiny, but in the end your actions have a big value in the rest of your life. Furthermore, this quote made me realize that life as we know it now may not be the life that we will have in the future. 

As I have said before, this book has taught me the value of appreciating life and what we have right now. One character that throughout the whole book taught me this lesson was Mrs. Nesbit.

“But I hope when I get closer to death, however old I might be, that I can face it with courage and good sense the way Mrs. Nesbit does. I hope that’s a lesson I’ve truly learned” (Pfeffer 234).

The quote above showed me that even in the scariest moment of life you have to face your problems with courage and with your head up. Just like Miranda remembered Mrs. Nesbit I think that it is important to be remembered as someone who will not give up or as someone courageous and happy. I believe that these are two of the most important qualities and I would like to have them.