Personal Narrative: Big Things From Lytle

Walking away from everything you once knew and starting over is never a picnic. Leaving Iraq, and moving to America has impacted my life more than anything. I was only 4 years old at that time, and the only English I spoke was “excuse me, water please.” My family and I did not know it then, but our lives were going to change; we would become “Americanized”. Learning English was one of the massive changes that occurred, the way I dressed (culture), and even the way I had power to go to school and educate myself.

I unzipped my coat as I stepped into the warm basement. I crinkle my nose as the bitter smell of alcohol hits it. I feel like I should be used to it by now, I go to concerts at least once a month. We walk over to the small table overflowing with merchandise. It’s a tradition to by the opening bands CD.

In 2025, I will be twenty-nine years old and hopefully married. I will be married to my significant other of ten years Earnest Palmer III, who is a dentist. I would have been recently graduating with a bachelor’s in Culinary Arts and trying to plan to open my own restaurant, BubbaD’s Eateries. Knowing my big headed husband of mine, I probably had a baby then and trying to have another baby. Hopefully, by then Earnest will get rid of the idea naming our son, King. We will be living in the suburbs near New York City but working in the city. Being a woman with great memory, I probably wrote a memoir about my crazy life and trying to sell it to a publisher. If none of the publishers wants to publish my memoir, I will probably sell it the Lifetime

Over my years of school, one big influence on me has always been sports. Ever since a young age, I have always enjoyed playing and watching sports. In my four years in high school, I have fell in love with the sport of lacrosse.

I woke up and took one bite out of my pop tart but that one bite was all I could eat. My legs were shaking, and my heart was pounding. My dad told me, “It is a true honor to even make it this far so go out there and have some fun.” Once I heard this statement, I knew I was ready to go. I arrived at school and boarded the bus. The car ride was an hour and fifteen minutes of hearing the squeaking of the wheel on the bus. My teammates were getting their heads ready for the big game.

You know that moment when you’re trying to reach the toilet paper but can't quite, then fall and kill yourself on a pumpkin? Yeah I know that feeling… it’s not good. It all started one very normalish day at 1065 Fitzgerald Ave.

When I was young my Dad would always remind me of how important these years as a kid are. He would always say watch how you act as a kid, for it will set the stage for the rest of your life. So many people I know ruined their lives when they were kids. This small, yet so important statement runs through my mind everyday. I love how everyone says they don’t care what people think of them, but I wish they knew how important it is to have a good image. I am not perfect, but I would like to be close as possible. But as Salvador Dali said “Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it. “ The problem I see is everyone wanting to be someone that they are not. Sure, we all have our idols that we look

Home is the beginning of one’s book. It is where your story begins, forms its characters, shows its purpose, and reveals its ora. This is how mine is written. Home is on the buzzing highway down a bumpy gravel road. It’s Brandon, Mississippi. It is the only home I’ve ever known. Home is the smell of homemade biscuits and tomato gravy on Saturday mornings. It is “Bless Your Heart” and “Yes Mam” and “No Sir”. The little bedroom in the back of a grey double-wide where Carrie Underwood songs played and where I learned to curl my hair and put on mascara. My cousins and I running around with mason jars, chasing the lightning bugs. Bar-B-q on the back porch and never meeting a stranger. It is the morals learned and the identity

I didn’t learn how to read until 2ed grade.Beacuse parents divorced my dad would take me to school some days and my mom would take me others. Little did I know my mom would drink and get high after I went to bed at night. In the morning she would sleep in with a hangover so I got dressed and ready on my own. She would not wake till 11:00 so I would play dolls and watch cartoons all morning. Because of this, I missed about 30% of grades K-3. In 3ed grade me and my dad and stepmom learned of my moms addiction. I stopped seeing my mom for a long time. During that time I discovered the joy of reading. I started later than the others so I ended up at a low reading level but once I learned to read, well, I never stopped.Stories are

Go back to a time, when smart phones, and laptop were as thick history textbooks. To a time when a whole gallon of gas cost a little more than a dollar. The year is 1998 and in this year I was born. I was given to a very loving mother and father, that with their extraordinary love gave me the unextraordinary name of David. I grew up in the wonderful city of El Paso, Texas.

The rest of what I personally think and experienced of the Big E is that it is a good place to see various country people that I like to see at concerts. Its a place to find Christmas gifts for people. The exhibit where I can see real life bears such as a Grizzly through a big picture window is very cool. People can look at the bears from close distance. My Favorite state buildings to go to are Vermont and Rhone Island. I like the Vermont one because I usually can get Cheddar cheese out of Vermont there. I go to the Rhone Island one because I have frequently been there on day trips to their beaches. So I am just a fan of the place. Those things are what I like to experience about the Big E and for all I know is what people similarly go to

Most of us in the family have different ways of talking to others. Kwabe, the youngest out of 8, is annoying but sometimes gets his points across. The second youngest is serena, around people she doesn’t really know or wants to be mean to, she puts on a baby voice, around people she doesn’t like she talks with a deep voice. At home she is just irritating, and she is always sassy. Oyema and I are pretty much the same, we don’t want to talk at all, well at school. It’s like right after we scramble outside of school we just talk and talk and talk. Sharese and Tiera, two of our older sisters, they are raggedy smart alecks, especially sharese. Tiera is just plane weird, but both of them curse so much it’s amazing how many curse

I neck almost snaps based on how quickly I turn my head, “What the hell did you just say to me?!”

It is the late summer of 2016, a sunny, windy Sunday evening. Friends of ours, including family, eating together, along with each other, in circles of steel easy chairs in the back yard and sitting around tables. We share funny, amusing stories and jokes. We laugh uncontrollably to funny memories that we can barely breathe. When the wind goes down, we take some tables to the deck, with mouths ready to taste the delicious barbecue we prepared, ready to eat my mom's famous tres leches, and Mr. Sutton’s homemade vanilla ice cream. For some of us, the ice cream is more than enough for dessert.

Academy, I have always been significantly behind everyone else. I never really cared until I got to junior high. I was sitting in my math class and my teacher, Mr.Catanese, puts on a coat, a pair of sunglasses, and a Katy Perry song on. I was confused and intrigued, so I paid attention to a grown man singing as if he was a teenage girl. After his song, he got on with the lesson and told us to call him Mr.Cat. I knew what he was teaching, but I just couldn’t care less so I acted like I was paying attention, but truly I was daydreaming about a girl I met earlier That week. I was called on to answer a question on the board. I panicked and quickly looked at the equation. I knew the answer but didn’t answer out of fear or disrespect.