SEVEN STORIES ABOUT BEING ME

The Right Ankle
Once it happened once it never stopped. The feeling of pain when it rolled for the first time was like my world was coming to the end. I didn’t know what to do but cry, cry, and cry. It’s like my ankle was never put back into place. When I would walk or step on something wrong, I would go down. It’s like it was just a part of me know because I always did it. People in the beginning would be like “O my gosh, are you ok?”, then everyone realized it was just a part of me.

Always the Big One
The one with the larger size always seemed to be me. It appeared like I always had friends that were smaller than me. So I felt awkward all the time, knowing that I could never have the experience of wearing my friends’ clothes, because I would hang out of them. But of course it was no problem for them to wear mine because they were extremely large on them. But it wasn’t my fault I was a large child in my younger years, it was my parents’, because they were the ones who never told me if I kept eating a lot I would get big. It was just a part of me that when I ate food I was happy.

Addiction to Coke
It was the day I first started driving – we stopped for food and after that I always went back for more. Burger King was the place and Coke Icee was the name. It was my favorite drink in the world. Its ice cold taste of pop and slushy texture was the best combination you could ever ask for. Depending on how you want to drink it you could use a giant straw and slurp till you got a brain freeze, or you could spoon it like ice cream on a hot and sunny day. The Icee was my picky up for when I was having a bad day. I just drove to Burger King and, like they say, I had it my way.

Three Months of Pain for Nothing
It started when I was a baby, going in and out of the hospital because of the tubes in my ears. The doctors said “they need to come out,” so they took them out. Months later they needed to go back in. In and out they went for a couple of years. Finally they stopped and left my ears alone, til one day in fourth grade I went for a check-up and they looked into my ears with this big flashlight and said, “We might have a problem here.” My parents and the doctor talked for a long time. Not sure what they were talking about because the sucker I got tasted so sweet and that was all I cared about. Years went by and the problem in my ear got worse. Finally my parents and I decided that we had to fix the problem before it got worse. In March was the day I went under to have skin graphing done in my right ear because all the surgeries in my younger years left a hole in my eardrum. Five hours later I was done and all patched up, freaking out because I had no idea what was going on. All I remember was the dog that my parents placed in my hands. They said, “Hold him, he’ll make you feel better!” Finally we went home and all the pain was starting to kick in. I felt like I had a bomb go off in my head and that was all I could hear. It took me three whole months of bed rest to get better. After those months my mom and I went to get a check-up on the surgery and when he looked in my ear, my mom said, “What’s the look for?” The doctor replied that surgery did not work successfully. Once he said that my mother grabbed me and walked out with tears in her eyes, knowing I went through all of this pain for nothing.

The Name is Gizmo
He was the one who changed our lives for the better. He was a gift to my sister and me one Christmas morning. He was in a cage outside our front door in a Santa suit, waiting for our love. He was this warm, fuzzy little dog waiting to explore a new world with his new owners. He was our first, so we were even more excited than ever. He wasn’t just a dog, he was the one who brought my family close together. He was so happy and outgoing, and loved everyone; it was like we had a new baby in the family. But he didn’t only help my family come together, he taught my sister and I responsibility. Now we had to take care of another life. At first it was hard because we were not used to it. After a couple of months, he was just part of a routine that we followed every day.

Darien Lake is Where it Started
We were always there at the being of the month: family vacation with fourteen other families. We would camp in RV’s for a weekend, and hit up the amusement park. It was me and two other friends, walking around like we owned the place because it was the first year our parents let us walk around alone. As we walked up to the entrance, there he was, this amazingly good looking boy working the ride. Being young teens we were all giggly and talking with him. Then we dared him and his friends to go on the ride with us. Our goal of the night was to see what they were willing do to. Ten rides later, he asked one of us for our number. I giggled and said my number out loud. It was super exciting and daring. Within minutes he called just to make sure we didn’t give him the wrong number. We’re about to celebrate our five-year anniversary.

The Ride
It was my first time going on a roller coaster. We were at Fantasy Island and my dad kept bugging me to go on a “big girl ride,” as he called it. I told him no, I was too afraid. But then he said the magic words: “I’ll give you ten dollars to go on,” and then I agreed. Of course, he made sure it was the biggest one there. Its name was the Silver Bullet, and it was the biggest and fastest roller coaster in this park. As we waited in the line, I held that money proudly. I thought about what I wanted to buy – a Barbie doll, stuffed animals, food. So many options to pick from. Before I knew it we were getting strapped in the car. My dad’s last words I remember were “Are you ready?” Up we went, and it seemed like it was taking forever, and then the drop hit. I screamed and cried the whole ride through. Finally we finished and I raced off the ride. Not feeling like myself, before I knew it I was throwing up and passed out because I was so drained. As I woke up in the first–aid office, my parents were there waiting for me to make sure I was ok. When I was ready to leave, my dad said, “Look, you’re a big girl now.”