12th Grade Paper

It’s always a treat to go through a desk drawer that hasn’t been cleaned out for a while.
As you cull through mounds of pens that haven’t worked for decades,
unsharpened pencils missing their erasers,
lone staples that have broken away from the pack –  therefore making them unusable,
and paper clips that have been straightened out so you could use the end to push
”reset” on some outdated electronic device,
you find a document that is even older than the pens and paperclips that litter the drawer….

How this document got into the desk drawer will forever remain a mystery,
the reason lost to the ages.

Besides, how it got there isn’t important.
The fact that it is there and you got to read it once again is what’s important.
Because reading it has brought such large amounts of laughter
and reflection into your afternoon.

Because, as you read it, you are reminded of the young girl you used to be.
A young girl filled with ideals, innocence, a little humor and a whole life ahead of her.
So. Much. Innocence.

I found an English composition that I wrote my senior year of high school.
(That was a while ago.)
My English teacher had us write about our life, up to that point.
The topics included
*My Early Childhood *Early School Days  *My Friends
* About Me *My Family *My Hopes For My Life

It sounds long, but it’s only 8 typewritten pages long.
Yes.
High School was so long ago, it was typed using a typewriter.
(You remember what that is, right?)

I thought I’d share some of my favorite highlights of this paper.
Moments that made me laugh out loud as I read about myself and my teenage perceptions of my life.
Maybe you’ll get a chuckle out of it too.

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“It was a summer evening, during a rain and thunder storm when my mother got the first hints that I was to be born soon. After waiting the full nine months, plus five extra days, she was more than ready.
After eight hours or so of labor, I was finally born.
The date was June 24, 196? at 5:13 in the morning. I weighed seven pounds,
two and one half ounces and was 19 inches long.

My early childhood was a happy one. Although I spent a large portion of my growing up years being grounded, I remember mostly the happy things.”

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“I wasn’t always the little angel that people thought I was.
There was always little things I tried to do without my parents finding out about.
One Sunday, I went to my Sunday School class and didn’t put any underwear on.
My mom about died because that was when the dresses girls wore were extremely short.
She pretended I wasn’t her daughter that Sunday and when we got home,
you can believe I got quite a talking to (I probably got grounded too!)
We both remember that day and she still teases me about all the little boys in Sunday School
(who are all good-looking young men now)
seeing my cute little fanny.”

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“I started kindergarten when I was five years old. I attended a private kindergarten. I made a lot of friends that year and I had a boyfriend other than Brett.
I was even brave enough to get up during one of our lessons, walk up in front of the whole
class, and give him a big, fat kiss.
He was very embarrassed.
That was a happy time.”

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“While I was growing up, I basically had the same friend.
I had one best friend who lived two houses down from me. I think that is why we fought so much.

One time we were in a real bad fight. This was the worst one...
…On this particular day, we decided to see who was the toughest of us two.
We were going to fist fight.
Just like in a real fight, we went to different corners of the yard to make our plans.
We were fans of Charlie’s Angels at the time so we
(my sister was my fighting coach, Joni’s sister was her coach)
used what we saw on the show to make our plans.
I was going to wait for Joni to get close enough, then I would kick her in the stomach.
Of course it would hurt, so when she grabbed her stomach and doubled over,
I would jump on her back and knock her to the ground.
When she was on the ground, I would sit on her and knock her senseless.
Perfect!
Only, I was so nervous I totally  missed her when I kicked and she grabbed my foot and tripped me.
I don’t think she would have hurt me real bad, but someone stopped the fight before
anything could happen.
We were lucky.”

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“During elementary school, I only made one bad choice as a friend….
….she scared me to death.
She didn’t believe in God.
She believed in Thor and Indian Gods, etc.
She told me one day I had an ugly demon following me and it wanted my soul.
She had me very scared and she finally got rid of it one night by some spell.
When she would spend the night at my house, in the morning she would tell me how she had all these demons in my house and they practiced their black magic on our various pieces of furniture.
She would also tell me that she saved me many times because her devil friends wanted to practice on me….
… She was only my friend for a year.
All my friend have since been normal.
At least they didn’t practice black magic on me.”

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“I wonder a lot about what it’s like to be old.
It scares me a lot too. I am really frightened to go into nursing homes because I may be like that
one of these days and it doesn’t look like fun.”

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“I always joke around about getting a face lift when I’m twenty.
Well, twenty (even the thought of that sounds old to me) may be a little young,
but I definitely see one at twenty-five or thirty.”

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“As I get older there is a certain way I would like to be.
I want to stay happy  my whole life.
I also want to make other people’s lives happy.
I would like for the whole world to get along and be happy.
Happiness is very important to me.”

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Well, there you have it.
My teenage brain’s perception of life.

At least I got the last part right.

(My senior portrait)

Oh yeah,
I got 100% on the paper!