The Life of Xylah Ochoa

The Life of Xylah
Alexis Ochoa

First Time in San Francisco

It was a cold afternoon in November 2018. It was
during Thanksgiving break that my family had
decided to go on a trip to San Francisco. It was
about a seven hour drive. But when we got there
we stayed in this beautiful hotel with a pool and
jacuzzi. The hotel was also right by the water so
we had a nice view. The next day we went
sightseeing. We went over the Golden Gate Bridge
and through the houses that looked like they were
from Full House. We also ate at this really nice
restaurant with really good food. We even went on
the boardwalk and did some shopping. The
weather over there was super nice during the day
but then in the night it got super cold and windy.
Our last day there we went to this really nice park
by the bridge and had a picnic.

My Dreamhouse

It was my birthday January 26 the year of 2014. My
mom’s grandpa had been in the hospital for about a 1
week. When we were home my mom got a phone call
from her sister that was in the hospital. After the phone
call my mom had to leave and said that we might not see
great grandpa again. When I asked my mom if I could go
she told me she didn’t want me to spend my birthday in a
hospital. So she went by herself and my dad stayed home
with my little brother and I. My dad baked brownies for us
and got me a bunch of presents. We watched movies and
ate popcorn. Before I went to bed my dad said he had a
last surprise for me. When he took me to the living room I
saw a huge Barbie Dreamhouse. The dreamhouse was 3
stories, it had an elevator, and a pool. My dad felt bad that
this is who I had to spend my birthday. The next day my
mom was home and she said that great grandpa went to
heaven.

Covid Closing Schools

The day I found out schools were gonna close for two
weeks because of Covid, like any other teenager I was
thrilled. Not having to wake up so early and get ready
and not having to deal with my teachers and all their
homework. We all thought that after two weeks we
were just gonna go back to normal, so might as well
enjoy what those two weeks gave us. But it wasn’t
until after the two weeks they were gonna add five
more weeks, then five weeks became the whole rest of
the school year. Then all of a sudden I was waking up
early do do zoom.Then I was stressing out because
the WiFi wasn’t letting me connect to my classes or
my assignments.But then more than ever I relied on
facetime and social media to interact with people. So
the whole pandemic stressed me out but not seeing
my friends made me stressed even more when the
WiFi was slow. So that fact that not being able to keep
up with my social life and school work scared me.

My Little Brother

My little was really little when we noticed my
brother was different. My mom took him to the
doctors and they said he had something similar to
ADHD. It’s not so bad it's just that he needs more
attention. Then once he started school my parents
figured out he has a hard time concentrating and
he stutters a lot. My little brother has been through
so much and if he can get through people telling
him he’s dumb or he slower than most students, he
sure would be someone I looked up to. He gets
through all these mean comments everyday and
still is the happiest person in the world. He doesn’t
let people's words get to him and it makes so
happy to have a brother like him. My little brother
makes me want to strive to be a better person. I
can always count on him to lift me up after a
stressful day of school. I love him to the moon and
back even he can really test me sometimes I will

About the Author

Xylah Alexis Ochoa was born in
Gardena Memorial Hospital on
January 26, 2007. She is currently
13 and is living in Wilmington Ca.
She lives with her younger brother,
both her parents, and her dog
ChaCha. She has many hobbies,
but her two favorite hobbies are
volleyball and going shopping. She
says when she gets older she wants
to go to UCLA and grow up to be a
Cardiologist.