A Tribute to my Mom (story #15)

My mom has always read stories to my siblings and I. From the time I was an infant she has been reading me picture books. As I grew she started reading longer and longer stories to me, and later on to my siblings. She has always encouraged us to read and listen to books and homeschooled us with history books that are actually interesting to read. She one year forced me and my brother to do Ambleside Online’s reading list for our ages, even though the books were hard to read. At the time we did not enjoy it, but the hard reading payed off and now I enjoy challenging books and writing.

Something we did enjoy was to read aloud stories. She would pick a book that the older ones could understand and the younger ones would sit in to. All of us had something to do. I drew, while my brother built Legos, and my sister and the little ones tried to do gymnastics in the background. Often mom made the little ones sit still because they started getting loud and not paying attention. For 30 minutes to 2 hours Mom would read to us. It was usually only supposed to be 30 minutes but sometimes we would be caught on a cliff hanger and would end up finishing the last half of a book in one day. If she happened to be busy and couldn’t read for 2 hours my siblings and I who were disappointed would chant, “one more chapter, one more chapter” and mom should have to say “No chanting.”

I am so grateful for my mom’s investment in my literary education. Because of her, I appreciate books and good writing.

I Choose Happy (story #14)

As an older sister I can be a real bore when I am not in the mood to have fun. Sometimes trying to make everyone behave and being perfectionistic can leave me feeling empty and unexcited about my relationship with my siblings. I end up getting mad about my siblings efforts to connect through humor and picking on me. Their playful joke about my hair being messy will trigger an out lash from me. One of the strangest things is that I almost always get along with my friend’s siblings and other little kids who can be as annoying as my own siblings. This fact leads me to conclude that getting along and being in the mood for fun is an intentional decision. Ironically deciding to have fun is one of the most difficult things to do.

Now that I am driving my siblings places, I always let my younger teenage brother pull the car around before I actually do the driving. He wants to drive. The other day as usual he pulled the car around, but as I was about to get in, he started slowly driving away wile laughing at me. In an instant I was filled with rage. Why couldn’t he just let me get into the car like a normal person? I was about to yell and gripe him out. As angry words were on the tip of my tongue, I thought “He wants me to chase him. I am going to break out of my boring mold and do it.” I didn’t want to chase him though, because I was angry. Thankfully I decided to push through my anger, and have fun against my will. I chased the car. I was actually having fun. My brother laughed, and let me catch up. If I had griped him out, I would have missed out on the fun and started our car ride with a fight while confirming my boringness to my siblings.

An Abnormally Silent Youth (story #13)

Today I witnessed something strange. It was the momentary glimpse I got of a normally mischievous child behaving properly and without reproof. This boy is able to disrupt a whole class with his constant fun, shenanigan’s, and chatter. Before today I have seen him switch in the blink of an eye from his jovial mood, to his serious or angry mood. The change is startling to the casual observer, who quickly assumes on first impressions that this wild child can never settle down.

Today at school the seniors graduated. I attended the graduation for a friend. The wild youth of whom I have acquainted you, had been selected by the teacher to be color guard. I watched as the boy solemnly walked down the aisle carrying the American Flag. Not a smile stole from his mouth. He marched unperturbably on, intent upon his solemn duty. When it came time to stop walking, he did so abruptly almost with a little hop. He posted the colors and proceeded to walk back, never altering in countenance except to deepen his frown, and truly it was a stunning sight to behold.

Sick? (story #12)

My Grandpa Wheeliss (on my mom’s side) has a spin for pranks, gag gifts, etc… A long time ago he and all his friends at work came up with a plan to prank a guy at work. They decided to all ask him when they happened to see him, “Are you okay? You look sick.” The target came in and my grandpa said “You look sick.” Several other people told the man he looked sick. The man was kind of scared and actually started feeling sick and imagining symptoms. Later that day he went home sick. He was a dupe to the classic Placebo.