Blog #13

My proposed focus for my object may sound silly, but I’d really love to write about my childhood teddy bear named Hank. Hank has been part of my life for a very long time and I’d like to discuss why he’s my favorite teddy bear and about all the places I’ve gone that he’s traveled with me to.

Some specific descriptions I may use to develop a focus include when I received Hank, how he got his name, what he looks like, and the big question; will I ever be able to leave Hank behind? My parents sometimes joke because I’m 21 years-old and still take Hank everywhere with my including vacations and they’re curious if when I get married will I take Hank with me into my new home and life.

As the reader I would be curious about where did I get Hank from, and why I haven’t left him in the past. For most children their childhood blanket, or stuffed animal is left in a memory box and never relieved but it’s different for me. I also would be curious about what he looks like, and how he got his name.

Blog #12 Revised Essay

Boundaries

All my life I dreamed of being part of a large family; either to marry into one, create one of my own, or both! I dreamed of marrying someone who had lots of sibling, sisters whom would become my new sisters, and sister-in-law’s who would become my new best friends. I imagined gathering for the holidays with everyone sitting around a large table sharing food, memories, and laughter. Being part of a large, supportive family is something I dreamed of as an adolescent.

I come from a small yet close-knit family. I have one sister, who in reality is my only best friend. My mom has only one brother who is seven years younger than her so in essence his children, my three cousins, are much younger than I am. My father, however, is the one who comes from a large family—his parents were each one of seven and although he only has one sister, she had five children of her own. Unfortunately, due to a family discrepancy we no longer have contact with my aunt and cousins, and both my grandparents on his side are deceased. When I analyze my situation I’m often disappointed. My opportunity to be part of a large family is there! I often question if the discrepancy was worth us all losing contact with half of our family. Holiday gatherings in my family tend to be small now consisting of only my family of four, my grandma, my uncle, aunt and three cousins—not the image of holidays that I had in mind.

When I met my current boyfriend in the summer of 2007 I was ecstatic. Not only was I interested in him, but also I learned that he was part of a large family just like I was in search for. His mother was one of seven siblings, all of whom had children, which provided my boyfriend with fifteen cousins. I invited the challenge of meeting all of his family members. Although it was definitely overwhelming at first I truly enjoyed getting to know everyone and become part of the family. Unlike in my family, many of his cousins were all around his age and had boyfriends and girlfriends as well, so there was always something for us to do. Together we would all go to baseball games, to see movies, or simply hangout together and have fun. I loved my new boyfriend, new friends, and new family.

Together my mom and uncle own a beach house which both of our families either takes turns visiting, or sometimes vacation at together during the summer. Because together both families only make up ten people, the house is still comfortable even if both families decide to vacation together. My boyfriend really loves coming down the shore with my family. He enjoys fishing with my dad, surfing with my uncle, and playing football on the beach with my younger cousins, where sometimes I would get bored being with my family because I felt there wasn’t much to do except lay on the beach and read by myself.

When my boyfriends entire family decided they were all going to rent a house down the shore and vacation together I was so excited! I thought of how much fun it was going to be having everyone together for vacation. All the older kids would get to go out to the clubs at night, and during the day the whole family would reserve a large spot on the beach and sit and laugh together. It was that vacation that made me quickly realize how difficult it was being part of a big family. Spending a week in a house with over thirty people was for some reason not living up to be the same image I had in mind. Unlike on my family vacations, this time not everyone had their own bedroom and comfy bed. Now people were sharing bedrooms and sleeping on air mattresses. Instead of enjoying a hot shower, everyone was fighting over who got the shower first, and you were definitely going to get yelled at if you were in there for over ten minutes! Dinner was another battle. If you weren’t first on line, you were likely to get the scraps at the bottom of the cooking pan and there were rarely enough for seconds. And if you decided you wanted to go out to dinner, everyone else would either ask to join you, or hold a grudge because you didn’t invite them, when the truth was that maybe you just wanted to enjoy a nice meal out with your partner.

By the end of the week everyone was at each other’s throats and most of the family needed the following week to cool off from one another. Girlfriends who had been around longer than me regretted to tell me that that was the typical family vacation that occurred every summer and they apologized for not warning me sooner.
I quickly began to miss my small, intimate family occasions. Although we’re small we realize that, which is why I now believe we have an even stronger support system. We never fought on family vacations but probably because there was enough room for us all to stay out of each other’s hair for a while. There was always enough food for seconds because we didn’t have to cook for as many people, and showers were always enjoyable and never rushed.

After two and a half years of being surrounded by my boyfriend’s family I started to feel disappointed, as though my childhood dream of being part of and creating a big family was a bad idea. I began analyzing what took place within their family, and thought to myself that I would never be able to survive the “revolving door” lifestyle. Looking back on the way I was raised, I could never accept someone walking into my house without knocking first, or worse, doing so while my family and I were eating dinner. In my house, we don’t cook dinner assuming that any one of my family members may stop by and eat with us, and I don’t want things to be that way for me and my family either.

Finally it dawned on me; I would be able to survive the large family that I dreamed of as long as boundaries are set. The way I see it, if I were to leave my leftovers in the refrigerator regardless if my family consists of four people, or ten people, if boundaries are set, and respect is implemented my leftovers should not be eaten simply because they were left in the refrigerator which is a common ground in a household.

I realize now the pros and con’s of having both small and large families, and I think my boyfriend and I learned a lot from each other’s families as well. I would still like to have a decent size family of my own someday—not necessarily seven children, but maybe three! I appreciate my family a lot more now and am thankful to be part of both my own family, and my boyfriend’s. My goal is to raise a family the size I dream of yet at the same time teach my children and family members that my house consists of boundaries which must be respected.

Blog #11

I love looking through old photo’s, which is why this assignment was difficult for me; I spent most of the time reminiscing over old photo’s rather than deciding which one I was going to choose to write about. Finally I came across the perfect photo.

The photo was taken in my high school cafeteria on the last day of school of my junior year. In the photo is me and one of my good friends Malcolm. Malcolm was a year older than me, and played football for his entire high school career while I was a cheerleader. I had the honor to sit with Malcolm during lunch my junior year and we became really great friends. My high school took great pride in our football team as we were state champions for three consecutive years. Through sitting with Malcolm I got to know him as a friend rather than the star football player. He treated me as if I was his younger sister, and my mom treated him as if he was the son she never had. Every Monday I would bring homemade brownies that my mom would bake especially for Malcolm after we would win our games on Friday; Malcolm always scored the majority of the touchdowns.

On the last day of school I asked Malcolm to take a picture with me because with his level of talent I knew he would become a professional football player someday. Malcolm modestly smiled and said he would take a picture with me simply because he was my friend. Malcolm was graduating that year and going on to play football at Ohio State, which is part of the Big 10 Conference. There, Malcolm would plat as a wide receiver and a defensive back.

This past year Malcolm was selected during round 1 of the NFL draft and drafted to the New Orleans Saints. I did keep in touch with Malcolm throughout my sophomore year of college. I haven’t talked to him recently but I always this about the friendship we shared and how although he was a star on Friday nights to all of our fans, in school he was simply one of my best friends. I’m honored to say that I know someone who plays in the NFL, and am even more proud of all of Malcolm’s accomplishments.

Blog #11

I keep a plastic box underneath my bed, which I decided to do at least six years ago when I decided to rearrange my room. I felt as though it was time to put away certain things in my room at the time that in my opinion appeared to be juvenile. I’ve known all along that the box still existed underneath my bed however until this assignment I never decided to open in. After opening it, a flood of flashbacks filled my mind! Inside it, I found my old, American Girl Doll, named Samantha.

Growing up I always played house and had tons of dolls as my children however, Samantha was different. I knew how much more expensive she was compared to my other dolls; therefore I took greater care of her. Inside the box I also found a ton of her outfits that I would dress her in. I received Samantha for my eighth birthday and for almost every occasion after that I would receive different outfits and accessories for her. Sometimes, when I would go to craft shows with my mom and grandma I would buy some of the knock-off American Girl Doll outfits that were sold at stands (they looked just as nice!). It would be completely inappropriate as a 21 year old to still be playing with her childhood dolls, however seeing her brought back a ton of wonderful childhood memories.

Blog #10

I've decided that I am going to be revising Essay 1, despite the fact that I had a difficult time deciding what to write about until just about the last minute. Overall, I enjoyed writing Essay 1 more so than Essay 2, and since I believe writing should be enjoyable I've decided to continue to work on it.

Although my second essay was truthful, I felt I was able to express myself more in Essay 1. More of my personality shines through with the first essay as well as the idea that I have more ability to elaborate on the topic of discussion.

I’m looking forward to revising and continuing my writing for the essay!

Draft Essay #2

All my life I dreamed of being part of a large family; either to marry into one, create one of my own, or both!  I dreamed of marrying someone who had lots of sibling, sisters whom would become my new sisters, and sister-in-law’s who would become my new best friends.  I imagined gathering for the holidays with everyone sitting around a large table sharing food, memories, and laughter.  Being part of a large, supportive family is something I dreamed of as an adolescent.

I come from a small yet close-knit family.  I have one sister, who in reality is my only best friend.  My mom has only one brother who is seven years younger than her so in essence his children, my three cousins, are much younger than I am.  My father, however, is the one who comes from a large family—his parents were each one of seven and although he only has one sister, she had five children of her own.  Unfortunately, due to a family discrepancy we no longer have contact with my aunt and cousins, and both my grandparents on his side are deceased.  When I analyze my situation I’m often disappointed.  My opportunity to be part of a large family is there!  I often question if the discrepancy was worth us all losing contact with half of our family.  Holiday gatherings in my family tend to be small now consisting of only my family of four, my grandma, my uncle, aunt and three cousins—not the image of holidays that I had in mind.

When I met my current boyfriend in the summer of 2007 I was ecstatic.  Not only was I interested in him, but also I learned that he was part of a large family just like I was in search for.  His mother was one of seven siblings, all of whom had children, which provided my boyfriend with fifteen cousins.  I invited the challenge of meeting all of his family members.  Although it was definitely overwhelming at first I truly enjoyed getting to know everyone and become part of the family.  Unlike in my family, many of his cousins were all around his age and had boyfriends and girlfriends as well, so there was always something for us to do.  Together we would all go to baseball games, to see movies, or simply hangout together and have fun.  I loved my new boyfriend, new friends, and new family.

Together my mom and uncle own a beach house which both of our families either takes turns visiting, or sometimes vacation at together during the summer.  Because together both families only make up ten people, the house is still comfortable even if both families decide to vacation together.  My boyfriend really loves coming down the shore with my family.  He enjoys fishing with my dad, surfing with my uncle, and playing football on the beach with my younger cousins, where sometimes I would get bored being with my family because I felt there wasn’t much to do except lay on the beach and read by myself. 

When my boyfriends entire family decided they were all going to rent a house down the shore and vacation together I was so excited!  I thought of how much fun it was going to be having everyone together for vacation.  All the older kids would get to go out to the clubs at night, and during the day the whole family would reserve a large spot on the beach and sit and laugh together.  It was that vacation that made me quickly realize how difficult it was being part of a big family.  Spending a week in a house with over thirty people was for some reason not living up to be the same image I had in mind.  Unlike on my family vacations, this time not everyone had their own bedroom and comfy bed.  Now people were sharing bedrooms and sleeping on air mattresses.  Instead of enjoying a hot shower, everyone was fighting over who got the shower first, and you were definitely going to get yelled at if you were in there for over ten minutes!  Dinner was another battle.  If you weren’t first on line, you were likely to get the scraps at the bottom of the cooking pan and there were rarely enough for seconds.  And if you decided you wanted to go out to dinner, everyone else would either ask to join you, or hold a grudge because you didn’t invite them, when the truth was that maybe you just wanted to enjoy a nice meal out with your partner.

By the end of the week everyone was at each other’s throats and most of the family needed the following week to cool off from one another.  Girlfriends who had been around longer than me regretted to tell me that that was the typical family vacation that occurred every summer and they apologized for not warning me sooner. 

I quickly began to miss my small, intimate family occasions.  Although we’re small we realize that, which is why I now believe we have an even stronger support system.  We never fought on family vacations but probably because there was enough room for us all to stay out of each other’s hair for a while.  There was always enough food for seconds because we didn’t have to cook for as many people, and showers were always enjoyable and never rushed.

I realize now the pros and con’s of having both small and large families, and I think my boyfriend and I learned a lot from each other’s families as well.  I would still like to have a decent size family of my own someday—not necessarily seven children, but maybe three!  I appreciate my family a lot more now and am thankful to be part of both my own family, and my boyfriend’s.  

Blog #9

I never thought I would somewhat successfully complete my first draft. It took me a while to come up with a subject when little did I realize it was something so personal, right in front of me.

Overall I think my essay went well. It was personal and witty. Something I’d like to work on is showing more of my personal progression; maturing while spending my money, learning spending limits, returning to work as an adult and no longer the child.

I want my next essay to be clever, but personal and funny as well, however, I haven’t decided on a topic yet. I think my main focus is to write on the organization of my writing.