Personal Essay: Turning The Page

It was a fine Sunday Morning. I was about to experience a fun day of baseball. It was a beautiful afternoon for a trip to the ballpark. I could hardly wait to get there to experience all of the fun things. I was with my brother and his girlfriend and my two nephews and me.I got there by car with my brother's girlfriend and me and my nephew. When we got there we went to the park there and played on the playground. Then we headed up to our seats which were all the way at the top ,one of the best seats in the house. I went down to the concession stand and my brother gave me $20 to buy three pops and a small pop for my nephews and me. The guys who comes to you and give you the ice cream and stuff. we got slushies

I was ten, the most terrifying event I had been through was riding the little dragon roller coaster at the fair, but that night changed it all. The fear that started in my head spread like wildfire to the rest of my body from the tips of my fingers to the bottoms of my toes. My heart was racing so fast that it could have beat Usain Bolt in a 100m dash. Stop, drop and roll, three steps that should have come naturally, but instead I froze, looked down at my yellow and black checkered flannel in complete terror, fearing for my life.

I had always assumed that my legs were strong and that I had decent muscle control, however, this thought was proven wrong at the beginning of my junior year in high school due to a detrimental injury. It was the first game of fall league for basketball, and within the first five minutes I had succumbed to an injury. Tearing my ACL and Meniscus has taught me to continue improving on my strength, not let this one injury keep me down, and to keep a positive mindset.

One cold sunny weekend in February of 2014 in Madison, MS the Saint Stanislaus boys just arrived to the hotel where they would stay for the night before the big game. All was good the night before we ate and later went to sleep. We all woke up around eight in the morning and had breakfast. We left for the fields around twelve because the game was at two in the evening.

I have learned a great many things from playing soccer. It has changed my entire outlook on and attitude toward life. Before my freshman year at Cool high school, I was shy, had low self-esteem and turned away from seemingly impossible challenges. Soccer has altered all of these qualities. On the first day of freshman practice, the team warmed up with a game of soccer. The players were split up and the game began. However, during the game, I noticed that I didn't' t run as hard as I could, nor did I try to evade my defender and get open. The fact of the matter is that I really did not want to receive the ball. I didn't' t want to be the one at fault if the play didn't' t succeed. I did not want the responsibility of helping the team

I have overcome many obstacles within my life and I am proud of where I am today. To start, my full name is Samantha Heart LeClair. My life began on December 21st 1995, in Kingston; however, I moved to Sydenham for four years at which time my family returned back home. I’ve attended three elementary schools, two high schools and now two colleges. I am currently taking the Community Service Worker (CSW) program at Trillium College. In elementary school, I played soccer and basketball, and was involved with the track team. For extracurricular activities, I tried hip-hop dance classes, ballet classes and piano classes. My family is limited, but the ones who are an active part of my life mean the world to me. I was raised to believe family comes first and in the end, family will be there. Throughout my life journey, I have come to realize this is very accurate. My mother is my best friend. She has always been there to support every decision and bring light on my dark days. My brother, Zackery, is three years older than I. Throughout the years, we have had many falling outs, but he is still one of my closest friends. My stepdad, Dan, isn’t just an ordinary stepdad; he is my dad. Dan has been a better father figure than my biological father, which is why I consider him my actual father. It takes more than just creating a life to be a father; it takes good parenting, patience and unconditional love to be one. The latest addition to my family is my eight month old son,

I have overcome many obstacles within my life and I am proud of where I am today. To start, my full name is Samantha Heart LeClair. I was brought into this world on December 21st 1995, in Kingston. I moved to Sydenham for four years at which time my family returned to Kingston. I have attended three elementary schools, two high schools and now two colleges. I am currently taking the Community Service Worker (CSW) program at Trillium College. In elementary school, I played soccer and basketball, and was involved with the track team. For extracurricular activities, I tried hip-hop dance classes, ballet classes and piano classes. My family is limited, but the ones who are an active part of my life mean the world to me. I was raised to believe family comes first and in the end, family will be there. Throughout my life journey, I have come to realize this is very accurate. My family consists of my mom, brother, stepdad and son. My mother is my best friend. She has always been there to support every decision and bring light on my dark days. My brother is three years older than I; we have had many falling outs, but he is still one of my closest friends. My stepdad (Dan) isn’t just a stepdad; he is my dad. Dan has been a better father figure than my biological father, which is why I consider him my actual father. It takes more than just creating a life to be a father; it takes good parenting, patience and love to be one. My son, Noah, is an amazing blessing. He is what

“If you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” No one could have said it better than J.R.R. Tolkien. Often, I get “swept off” to a place called my bedroom where I read too many books too many times. I read stories of adventure in hopes that one day a wizard in a gray hat will show up at my home and tell me I am needed for the company burglar. Or maybe I find a droid. Maybe this droid contains an important message that must be delivered to someone so I have to take him to that someone. I do realize life is not an action-packed adventure like those books portray. However, life is an adventure in itself, just not one filled with mythical creatures and people. When I read, I lose track of time

There is no doubt that there are many different morals found in cross country runners, but the two morals that I learned about and developed during my time in cross country is work ethic and leadership. There was no end to the lessons I learned and the progress I made in four years of cross country. Those are the lessons that stick with me and will continue to shape me as I go through life.

Today they came back, just like they said they would, just like I knew they would. Today was different though, unlike last time they weren't testing, they were collecting. Every 4 years the kids who are “ lucky ” enough to be ages 10 -18 at the time get to participate in the draft.

My mom always told me she felt comfortable in her dented-but-charming 2011 black Toyota Camry. I’ve never bought into the notion that a car could be a sanctuary, but she thinks of her car as a second home. She grew up in the San Fernando Valley of the 1980s, a mall-centric autotopia, so it makes sense. But, at twenty years old, it’s not the sort of mentality that I’ve grown to share.

I had no idea where I was. Despite my blurred vision, I soon recognized the sound of an operating heart monitor machine. I tried to rub my eyes, but the wires connected to my arm restrained my movements. As I recovered my vision, I recognized the ICU room and my father standing beside me. He gently covered me, swallowed his tears, took a deep breath, and told me what had happened. While he was speaking, some moments of the incident gradually started coming to me, and it all began to make sense.

I have decided to delay my trip up north just for a day or two. I have sent Dr. Michaels my articles and also the note from Kratzman. Before I make my way up North I have thought about starting a new Life Frame when I find my father up north, so I will put my wire cage in a safe location where it won’t be destroyed. Up North at Highway One I will be nice and relaxed living with my father and I will have a lot of time to spend on the Life Frame. I think my father will willingly help with the Life Frame when I arrive at his house.

The ambulance pulled up to get me, Johnny, and Dally out of the burning house. Johnny was in really bad conditions because of the burning house he was in. We were rushed to the hospital so we could get help. Then, my to brother came in and hugged me because they missed me and I missed them to. Then, he took me home because I was really tired and didn’t need to stay in the hospital because I was not burned that bad like Johnny, and Dally. The next morning I got up and cooked food for Darry, and Sodapop. Then, Steve and Two-bit came in and made fun of my hair and made me drop the food that I cooked for my brothers. Then, after they ate we went to fight in the rumble and we won. Then, they took me to see Johnny. I told him that we

This was the first night I had been out on the town, since coming of age. After dark I left to the bloody goblin, a tavern near the center of town. I’ve been there many times with my father when I was younger. However, that was many years ago, I recall the smell of strong alcohol burning my nose and the smoke stained roof. I forgot how short of a walk it was to the goblin seeing as I arrived there in just a few minutes, no time to reminisce before going in on my own. The tavern was loud and you could hear the sailors inside singing shanties that remind me of the docks near home. The smell of burning alcohol was strong in the air. The building was in rougher shape than I remember. some of the windows were cracked and some were even broken in. The goblin cutout they had above the sign was sun rotted and ready to fall apart and