I Was Born For The Woods

I can still recall the days where I would run down the block chasing after the ice cream truck. I lived near a park in Brooklyn, and my daily summer routine consisted of endless enjoyment at the park. As a nine-year-old, all I focused on was having fun and playing handball with my friends at the park. Every day I set out on the same task, and did not realize what I would do if those friends were no longer there.

One of the challenges of growing up is loneliness. As a small child living in Brooklyn Francie had no friends her age, the kids in her neighborhood that would have been candidates for friends either found her too quiet or shunned her for being different. "So

As a kid growing up in Paterson you see a lot of things you’re not supposed to see at a young age. But with my type of parents and the culture that we have there was no way i was going to get caught up with any of that. I can still remember at age 10 while walking to school seeing a dead body on the sidewalk. From the start my mom wanted us to leave paterson and to live somewhere better than where we were. So from there my mother and father would work extra hours just for us to leave the area we lived in and to find a house up near haledon. There would be some days i wouldn’t get to see mom at all and i would be the one having to care of my sisters and attempt to cook. My mom would teach me so much like how to iron the uniform in the morning if she wasn’t home or to prepare breakfast. We eventually left that area of paterson and came to a little town called haledon. After that it was smooth sailing from there. That was also when i finally found my passion for sports. I played soccer, basketball, baseball but what really caught my attention was

Regularly, we would go somewhere and do something new regardless of whether we were in the country or in the city. When we were in the country we would stay at my uncle’s grandparents’ house. They owned a cow and a calf, so while we were there my uncle’s grandma would milk the cow after dinner and give us fresh, warm milk to drink. They also had a big farm filled with rows of corn, which my siblings and I would run through. There was only one thing my siblings and I were not used to, and that was having to run outside to the outhouse when you needed to use the bathroom.

Kids on my block always loved to play outside. Growing up we always knew each other. We cherished the times we would spend with each other. Whether it being on the Scorching hot days of Summer, the chilly days of Fall, Or the rainy days of Spring. We would be on that street hanging out and spend time with each other.

When you are a child it is supposed to be easy to making friends is supposed to be effortless, with sleepovers dominating your itinerary. However, this was not the case for this Grand Rapids native when I started off on my odyssey to the mysterious town of Portland. The move was terrifying for me, as I had just left my childhood home with a half-eaten package of Keebler cheese and peanut butter crackers grasped in my itty-bitty palms.

When summer season ended, we sometimes head to Cancun, where one of my aunts lived. Mami Rosa would help her take care of her small kids that weren't in school yet, while my aunt went to work in the huge offices. Cancun was a magnificent business city where the school was different than the villages. Here we had to wear uniforms, take English classes, and the school had many teachers and classrooms. The school couldn't be compared to the village school, and the children treated me differently because I came from a small town. I didn't make many friends because most of the kids in my classes didn't want to play or talk to me and they would even call me

Walking back to the Lower School playground, I reflect on how much laughter and joy I had out there. A time where after school was spent running around with friends, instead of hours of homework. Everyday, I would run outside to the playground and play games of soccer, football, and everyone's favorite, kickball. Specifically, on my first day of school I remember playing kickball. It was a sunny and crisp fall day. I felt the goosebumps rise on the surface of my arms and legs, but I knew once I started running . The first person I saw was Tim, and he asked if I wanted to play kickball with him and a few others, and I accepted. It was so much fun running around the bases and hearing all the screams of kids. First base was a metal pole, second

Born into an average orange mound family I saw a range of activities going on in the community, but that didn’t stop me as a kid. As curious as cat I found myself exploring my neighborhood by myself at the age of four. Later, I started collecting things like rocks, flowers, and the neighbors’ newspapers. When my aunt found out what I was doing, she’ll help me read the comic section and reward me when I said a comic strip right. Being the over bearing person, I forced my little brother to sit there and listen to the gibberish I learned from the comic strip. I believed he found enjoyment out of it.

A great deal of my childhood was spent outside. My brother Will, a kind soul, was never one of those bully brother types. We got along well, and he taught me many different basketball games. We would often visit our good family friends, the Nalty’s. The Nalty kids, made up of Layne, Morgan-Elizabeth, and Abby, were always such fun to be around. We’d spend hours running around their backyard. Abby, a bold and outgoing girl, was always someone I looked up to. Ironically, she was younger than me! Despite her young age, she was always someone that people admired and listened to. Her existence had a way of captivating your entire attention and admiration. She was confident without being cocky and she was fun without being annoying. Abby, tall and

Annie got the freedom of the streets, from her mother, as soon as she could say her telephone number. She memorized the neighborhood, making a mental map of it in her head and rehearsed it while she was in bed, picturing herself making turns onto different streets on her bike. She loved this boy who played football, but only spoke to him once in two years, so nothing happened there. Also Annie disobeyed her father’s wish to not go to Frick Park, but her mother let her as long as she did not tell her father. At Frick Park she started to learn more about wildlife by getting a bird book from the library and seeing how many she could spot at the park. She never met anyone at the park, but she would think about if a bum did come up to her she would

Never give up when things are bad because worse things could happen. In the story The River Brian and Derek go out into the woods with nothing but a map and a radio. Derek went with brian so that he could learn from Brian and how he survived in the woods. But one night there was a storm and Derek got struck by lighting and went into a coma and so brian had to make the right decision of if they should stay or go down the river. He made a raft and went down the river and faced many challenges but he never gave up.

The woods have many interesting things to see and do. With sun and shade and the many different types of trees, shrubs, and wild flowers. The grass gets really tall in the woods because theres no one to mow it.

I would have never thought that I would grow up to love the country life. I went from growing up in a big, busy, and hectic city, to a small, slow-paced, and simple town. I was so used to having neighbors, and walking and biking on a side-walk. Now I live on a gravel road with almost no neighbors. A change in environment really influences a person's personality. I now love the silence and hearing the birds chirp and coyete’s howl. The corn fields go on for miles and the sunsets are breathtaking.

Resting underneath the shade of the trees, I found myself appreciating the scent of pine needles; the ambiance of Christmas. Encompassed by the thick heavy air, I watched as a single sparrow fluttered high above the emerald forest. A few feet next to me an eager chipmunk hastily scampered from tree to tree, awaiting the chill of winter. The forest, I realized, was home to many wild creatures. In giving protection and food, the forest was gladly rewarded with the company of these animals. Beyond the horizon, I could see the community of newly formed saplings. They appeared as little children, learning under the guidance of their grown and fully matured parents.