My Family Never Forget

I didn’t plan to spend this hot August day like this...my mom told me on my birthday, my 5th to be exact, that this day would be special, little did my curious mind know that I would be getting something that every kid my age would die for. I would be getting my first best friend.

I’m not sure where to start this story, but i need to preface it with what happened about three months earlier. So the summer inbetween seventh and eigth grade my friends molly, gabi, and i all hung out on the fourth of july. The day before we drove up to Michigan with mollys mom amd bought a shitton of fireworks, more than we could ever need for one fourth of july. So the fourth of july goes great, but we have so many leftover fireworks Molly’s mom just tells us to store the rest of the fireworks in the tea drawer and shell use them sometime later. Now about three months later, it’s october 13th, Molly’s birthday. It was Me, Molly, Gabi, and some other friends who I honestly can’t remember the names of. We were all hanging out in her sunroom with the broken furnace so it was really cold.

The book I read was Never To Forget The Jews of the Holocaust by Milton Meltzer. The book is written by Meltzer’s true story of the. It tells the story of when over five million Jewish people were massacred. The book has no characters. From beginning to end the book takes place in Germany. It only tells the straight forward account of the Jewish Holocaust. He writes the story in an interesting view point because he is an old American Jew, watching events of the war from newspapers and radios. Writing the book in informational facts. The first chapter is entitled “History of Hatred.” It describes the horrible conditions Jews had to endure prior to the date January of 1933, Hitler comes to power. It also explains how the Jews were enslaved

This birthday had been wonderful. My friend Emily and I hiked up to a place called Griffith Observatory. I had heard that the view was amazing and you could see all of LA. I walked to a artsy concrete staircase where you could see the lively and bustling city in the background. From our point of view, the skyscraper buildings looked tiny and ant sized. The golden crisp sun had slightly set behind us and caused the sky to shift deep colors throughout the city. When the cotton candy like clouds drifted across the electric baby blue sky, I felt an overwhelming rush of pure happiness. The condensed and shrubby bushes in front of us were a shamrock green color, and looked as if they were full of life. I knew

Today was my sixteenth birthday, but no one seemed to notice. I spent all day slouching around school, in every class, and at home. I thought today would be different since

As an eleven year old, I sat attentively in class, writing down notes in my favorite purple pen, alternating between pen and pencil to assure the neatness of my math notebook. Talking in class never sparked my interest, but the little voice in my head always seemed louder than the screechy voice I scarcely used in person.

Imagine spending weeks or multiple months planning the right thing to give to your significant other on their birthday. However, when you present them with your gif. You receive malicious comments rather than gratuity from him or her. This leaves you heartbroken and maybe even angry. Katharine Brush writes in her short story, “Birthday Party” about a birthday party gone awry. She explains the events of the evening and even sympathizes with the woman.

In elementary school, I was a shy girl, but my parents would never believe that statement from any teacher. As a child, I ran around, danced on an imaginary stage, and read vigorously. Nevertheless, the quiet girl in their class perplexed teachers, but one teacher pushed me out of my shell and onto a stage. In that moment, the perception of me being a quiet student disappeared, and the chance to grow as a better person arose.

The birthday occurred on the same day that the janitor had to have surgery, and since the mess was tremendous... there were bits of pizza and cheap cake everywhere... someone had to clean it up.

My 2nd birthday. There are silly blues clues decorations everywhere. There are polka dot balloons, sweet yummy cake, and big shiny presents. There is a camera pointed at my face. The faint sound of muffled talking goes through my head. I hear the sweet words of “Happy Birthday” several times. As I open my gifts, I hear the rustling of the slick wrapping paper. My nose picks up the scent of the smoke from the birthday candles.

Friends and family gather around a room as the protagonist blows six candles on the vanilla flavored, three-pound-cake her father bought for her. This is the first and the only time she ever celebrates her birthday. When asked to whom she wants to give the first piece of cake, she picks it up and raises it to her mother’s mouth. Later that night, her parents break into a huge fight. There are screams and curses muttered under clenched jaws, doors are slammed and the party ends even before it begins. This day, she promises to never buy birthday cakes and to never choose a favorite. (5

I remember dreading going to school everyday. I started to think there was something wrong with me. That I had a problem. It was at that point in time I decided my plan of action. I became a piece of clay. I can’t think of any other way to say it. I took all the personality out of myself and acted how everyone thought I should act. I sort of started playing a character. Sure, my character was based off myself, but I stopped showing my real emotions and opinions. I was a walking joke. I did what other people thought was funny and that’s about it. Fast forward to three years later. It’s sixth grade and I still am a huge pushover. Over the last three years, my character is becoming more and more like me, but still doesn't do anything unless they're trying to be funny. I had developed a decent sized group of friends and was pretty well liked (I think). When I inevitably realized what I was doing, holding back my true emotions and thoughts, almost subconsciously, to keep a group of friends. I don’t mean having a filter. Having a filter is when you make sure not to curse in front of your grandmother or keep information to yourself because it’s personal. I ,of course, did that, but also kept things secret that I thought clashed with the character I made for myself. I became really upset. I thought my friends didn’t like me, that they only liked the character I had become. My solution was to stop talking to

The morning sunshine seeped through the cracks between my shutters, lighting up my room. I could hear the clock ticking and the rays of sunlight bouncing off of my eyelids. I barely got any sleep last night because I was ecstatic that tomorrow was, my birthday! I jumped up out of bed, how could I have forgotten that it was my birthday? Suddenly all of my drowsiness turned it into excitement and I jumped up, throwing the red gradient quilt off of my bed. I slowly walked out of my room, making very little noise, checking to see if anyone else was awake. I peeked through the intricate staircase railings and tried to spot anyone downstairs, no one was in sight. I tiptoed down the cream coloured stairs, reached the bottom and got startled when my mom yelled, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”, her voice bouncing off the walls of house. A grin so big spread across my face, I couldn’t believe I was turning four years old!

"Happy Birthday", my mom screamed out and scared me the morning of June 9. But it was surprising and nice of her since she wished me before anyone else. It was my eighteen birthday and it was my day. While looking out the big windows in my room, I thought to myself, I will do what satisfies me today, but wasn't quite sure what? I didn’t receive any calls from my friends, or other relatives. Nobody was home either besides my mom with whom I can’t make plans because she got her own work to do. It depressed me because it seemed like this was going to be one boring eighteen birthday.

“APPLES GET DOWN HERE LET’S GO!” Lollipop screamed from the ground, I quickly ran down the branches of my tree to meet her. Lollipop had led me to a place, but I didn't know where because she said it was a surprise for me, and by the way today… I turned 16! It’s cool, I know. I’m sort of exhausted from helping all these people though, but hopefully today will make up for it. The worst part of my day was that my own boyfriend forgot my birthday. A few hours later we were still