My Life Is A Beautiful Day

Flipping the last page back, there was two black and white pictures; I gently picked it up, having one on my left and right hand. Tears started to flow down from my cheeks as I fully analyzed it; it was a picture of Mama, Papa, Berthold and I. It was taken when it was Hanukkah, we looked so happy; it looked like nothing bad had happen to this family. The next picture was taken when I was in the camp, I looked horrible, once that little girl who had that meaningful smile has been swept off with an upside down smile. Brushing my fingers on the two photos, my cries grew louder as I read the last sentence; “never forget who you are -

At sixteen, now in the Early College, I’ve realized what i’m missing. I’ve realized, I don’t have my older cousins anymore. I left them in Ohio. I don’t have anyone who knows the memories and fun times we had. I had to make all new memories. Suddenly it wasn’t all fun and games. I’ve grown up and so have my

I glance amusedly at the photo placed before me. The bright and smiling faces of my family stare back me, their expressions depicting complete happiness. My mind drifted back to the events of the day that the photo was taken. It was Memorial Day and so, in the spirit of tradition my large extended family had gathered at the grave of my great grandparents. The day was hot and I had begged my mother to let me join my friends at the pool. However, my mother had refused. Inconsolable, I spent most of the day moping about sulkily. The time came for a group picture and so my grandmother arranged us all just so and then turned to me saying, "You'd better smile Emma or you'll look back at this and never forgive yourself." Eager to please and

As I walk out of the building with my friends, a hand stops me. I turn around to see the judge, smiling at me.”You would make a truly outstanding lawyer.” before I have a chance to thank him, he retreats back into the courthouse. I continue on with my friends, making our way to the bus, when a sudden thought comes to mind. When I first walked in, I looked at this place and immediately thought about what happened this summer. Those are old memories, the bad ones, but I have to let in the new memories, the happy ones. Happy memories are always better than sad ones, and I now have happy, and sad, memories of this place, and I’ve learned that it’s ok to have both kinds of memories. Sometimes you need both memories. I can still remember what happened last summer, but I also have to remember what happened today, because today I learned so many things, and any day when you learn something, is a day to

Although I was petrified for Drew’s sake, I also began to consider the fact that I was getting older as well. I had been in ninth grade at the time, and high school seemed to be flying past me. To me, Drew’s leave was an indicator of what was to come in the future: reality. I also began to comprehend the distance that would be a result of Drew’s absence. I have two brothers besides Drew named Kevin and Luke. As children, all four of us had been inseparable; but in that moment, I realized that this was the exception. College was a breeze for Drew and I’s relationship. He visited often and it took 5 seconds for me to dial his cell phone number. But, as I saw the messy couch on which he had slept before, I knew that it would not be the same. Besides the fact that his absences would be longer, I realized that he would also be in greater danger. He spent six months in foreign lands. Whenever I was able to get ahold of him, he never was able to tell me where he was because he did not even know. Drew’s leave forced me to mature and deal with separation and

Although this was taken seven months ago, it feels as if it was just yesterday that my sister, Cortney, began a new stage in her life. She is no longer my bedroom neighbor just a hallway length away. The bathroom that was once shared is now only occupied by me, that bedroom next to mine remains vacant, and I am officially an only child -or so it seems. It’s crazy to believe we are already teenagers. As children, we got along much better than average siblings. We never fought, always shared clothes, and even shared friends despite the age difference. As time went on, we grew closer; making it even harder for us to be separated from each other long term. Next thing we knew, it was August 24, 2015, the time had come that Cortney was graduated and moved on to bigger and better things. My family took two cars over two hours away to say our goodbyes. Despite the fact that we did not want

I had just exited the barber shop when my dad was waiting for me inside his van. I agreed to help my aunt move her household items into boxes in preparation for her new home. I agreed to help because not only was I close to my aunt; I also get to see my cousin, Joseph. I had kept my thoughts about him throughout the car ride until we finally arrived at my aunt’s house. As usual, she ran outside to welcome me and my dad warmly while Joseph stood on the doorway watching us from the shadows. When I walked up to him to say my greetings, he did the same but he wasn’t as enthusiastic as the three of us. With that, my Dad worked alongside our aunt while I was paired with my cousin who was in charge of carrying living room furniture out of the house.

As I was quickly finishing the card that I hand make every year for my best friend Jaci, when my mother called me to the living room. I shouted that I was coming .She told me to hurry up so I can be earlier than others. It was Jaci’s birthday and she was my best friend. Quickly, I added the last finishing touches to make it unique, then I hurried to

Of all the times to think about Tessa and how sad she had looked to tell me her parents had received a job offer and she would have to move away. If it wasn’t for her kissing me that day, I doubt I would’ve had the nerve to make the first move. Now that I thought about it, this was actually the perfect time to remember that and one other little thing about my pass. However, she wasn’t in the category of things I wish I could forget.

We tried to be friends but he was crass and insulting, so I completely cut off any communication with him. My heart was broken. I’m ashamed to say that the sadness did not only stem from losing him, but mostly from losing his

I hated the lies between my “best friend” and I; I hate the hospital here, I hate that I couldn’t spend much time with my friends as much as my brother did, or having a chance to mapping around to all these places he was bragging about. But then, after wasting my first week, now I let the breeze brush against my skin and let my hair fly back behind me. The scent of everything keeps pulling me back and won’t let go. After all these years, I am finally here, sitting behind my friends electric bicycle and listen to them spilling out all these café shop and food stands they went after school and how our classmates had changed throughout the

After a long and exhausting school year, I was ready for a break. The studying, stressing, and pressure of the school year had finally come to an end. It was the summer of 2017. I felt it in my gut, that this summer was going to be one for the books. I was confident that these next few months would be packed full of only the best memories. I was so sure of this, solely because of the people around me. Over the past school year, I made some of the best friends. I had formed relationships and bonds with my friends like never before. All of us were so close-knit, I felt like nothing could separate us. The first two months of summer was a breeze. And the end summer was drawing near. Finally, it was time to go to summer camp. I was ecstatic. After traveling three hours to camp, we had finally arrived. I remember stepping off that van and taking it all in. The

Driving to the store I had a sense of excitement. Probably from all the new merchandise we were receiving. The day went by slowly eventually approaching lunch time. I had to do some errands during that time because I never have time to do it after work. I went to the post office which I haven't done in a while. As I walked back to my car browsing through the mail. Something unusual came up. It was an invitation to my 25th high school reunion. I didn’t go to any of the other ones since my schedule was/is so busy. Perhaps this year it would change.

Last week I was feeling a little down, because I have yet to really get settled in here at State. On Friday though I was feeling particularly happy because my boyfriend, Reed, was coming to visit me. Considering the fact that my family and Reed are my whole world, it has been extraordinarily hard for me to adjust here. While he was here in Starkville, he and I went to eat breakfast together at Denny’s, shop for groceries, and spent some time alone. Denny’s was overflowing with people, but the staff members were still friendly and efficient. Even though we ended up spending approximately two hours in Denny’s because of the crowd, it did not really matter because we were together. After getting groceries and hanging out around campus, we went

It’s the end, high school is finally over. It’s finally graduation day, and a wave of emotion hit, and I’ve never been hit with a wave quite this hard, not even at the beach. I’m not the type to get sad, but as I walk around in my long draping gown, my cap the doesn’t quite fit because of my abnormally large head, and my state championship ring I can’t help but be overwhelmed with emotion. Being the guy that I am I ignore it as always and I continue going around to teachers and give them hugs, thanking them for the help they’ve given me. Watching everyone take pictures, crying, talking about their futures, and how “they’ll have to meet up sometime” as if they’re moving to another country when they are just really moving to the next town over. I swore the day before, the week before, even months before I would be sad, and wouldn’t know what to do with myself when today actually comes, but I can’t seem to find the emotions. All of them are on the inside and won’t come out. On the inside I feel sad, and upset and I want to just hug everyone and cry, but I can’t. I don’t have time to think about crying, because of all the chaos going on around me. We only got one practice in ahead of time, just about nobody actually listened to what we are supposed to be doing, so everyone’s doing their own thing. I walk through the halls and realize this is my final last. I’ve had my last soccer game, I’ve attended my last football game and cheered them onto another loss, and now in