Personal Narrative: How Did I Get Here?

Have you ever felt robbed of a childhood? At the age of six, I was placed into the DYFS system. I moved from house to house, not really having the chance to grow up like normal children. I didn’t get to experience things such as ; asking my older sister advice on boys, learning how to cook grandma’s favorite recipe, or going on family vacation to Disney world . I worked hard to get where I am right now. My experiences have made me of who I am today , my story will tell you my background, where I came from and why my application is incomplete without it.

STRETCH!!!! In this personal narrative I will be talking about what made me well...ME! I will be talking about gymnastics and why I think it made me, me. The three reasons why I think it made me who I am today is because, I am more flexile, I have a better pain tolerance, and I am more patient with myself and others. This why I think gymnastics has made me, me.

I once had a traumatic event that was kinda or I should say really scary for because this is the story of me almost drowning at a elitches. So it all started about a week before, when my neighborhood friend invited me and my sister to elitches one summer. And of course i'm gonna say “heck ya!” why not. I mean wouldn’t you? So about a week later we go and so were packing up and I can't remember but i got mad about something. So I was walking home but then I guess I did that thing where I just want everyone to feel bad for me so I want to go. But let it be known i'm like 6 so i'm not acting like this as a 10 year old. Anyways I end up going and so the line to get in was as massive as you can imagine so we waited for 30min.

It was another normal day in the little town of Person Georgia. I was sitting in my house with nothing to do.

My object that I am connecting to my personal narrative is my headphones. I chose this object because while I was still in beauty pageants I did not listen to anyone. Mostly my mom. When I think about headphones I think about listening to something whether it is a movie, TV show, or music. I have multiple pairs of headphones in different colors. I chose my apple headphones because of the color that they were. When I think about the color white I think of a dove which represents humbleness. Near the end of my narrative I talk about how my mom taking me out of beauty pageants humbled me. The actual headphone is circular. This shape to me represents how my family was feeling. They felt like they were running in circles because as soon as they

My father named me after the Laurel flower that grows on the mountains. I was almost named Alexandra, but it’s my middle name instead. My mom didn’t let my father name me Alexandra because she didn’t want people calling me Alex, and so my father chose Laurel. My mom’s name is Christine, and she always hated when people called her Chris. My last name, Kirby, is well known in our tiny town. I grew up in one of the smallest towns in Maine, Arundel, which is so small in fact that it’s not featured on maps of Maine, and doesn’t even qualify as a town large enough to get its own zip code. So, in this tiny town I grew up in, everyone knew

Some people have things that make them special or different from others, which their lives would be incomplete without it. The things that make me myself are the facts that I am a multiple sport athlete, intelligent, and also the fact that I love anything medical. These things make me who I am for in my life, this is all I do. All my time is filled with sporting events, whether it is my own games or other sporting teams from my school. My job even consists of sports; I am a volleyball official. Whether I am volunteering or taking classes in high school, I am constantly trying to learn about anything medical.

This last Monday and friend of mine showed me a video clip she took with her

What makes me different is such an inherent part of me, it does not automatically jump to mind. But when I think about what motivates me to welcome those different than myself, I have my answer. My faith is what drives me to understand and care for those unloved or underserved. It is not something I believe can or should be forced. Rather, it leads me to believe that human respect is granted, not because of identity or orientation, but because of my fundamental belief that all people have the unequivocal right to be treated with dignity and respect. My journey to maintain my faith has not been simple. I am often and unapologetically judged and challenged by both my peers and my superiors. Nonetheless, I have been taught that confrontation is

I like to think that my journey to finding my identity has been a complicated one. As in my case identity was something no one really focused on finding but at the age of fourteen my complicated identity would come to accept a new part of it, Cancer. But it is not what I identify myself as, it makes up my identity but I don’t let that define it.

We rolled up to our destination, my heart pounding in my chest as I looked around in anticipation My heart rate quickened as we parked our dusty gray colored Toyota wagon. We started strolling down the aisles until my I stopped and pointed, the reddish gold and platinum glimmered as we made our way over to take a closer look. As we got closer my dad was very concerned about what we were getting into. I didn’t care, my stomach had so many butterflies in it you would think there was a nest in it. The sleek aerodynamic body made for nice straight body anyone who had any sort of experience would be impressed by.

Over the last four years of high school I have done a lot of searching, within myself, the people around me, and how to make all I do have more purpose. The first step was to find myself. I had to discover the exact beliefs I had, how I viewed having fun, and I promised myself to stay true to what I found. After coming to the conclusion of how I wanted to spend the rest of my years at SHS I surrounded myself with people who had the same intent as I. Early on as a freshman I signed a pledge agreeing to live a drug and alcohol free life while attending Streator High, in which I have successfully done. After understanding I can enjoy myself attending school dances, or traveling to away sporting events while being 100% substance free, I pushed

In the first telling of my personal narrative, I did not consider including what had led me to a point where I began to embrace my identities and become proud of my heritage as Korean. There were many factors that led me to be who I am today. The reason for leaving out the information was because there were so many people and occurrences that led me to the point where I am now. For example, moving to different elementary school where there were more diverse body of students, annually performing at the Mosaic in the Korean pavilion, my parents being a positive role model, and becoming a volunteer teacher at the Korean Language School are some of the reasons which have led me to be who I am today. As I was surrounded by people who were interested

For me its difficult for a certain agent that is on my team. Lets call him Juan. I first met him in the TWC training class. He seemed arrogant and a know it all in class. He made it seem like any female was beneath him but yet I still tried to be the nice person and get a long with everyone in the class because I was trying to go into management. I still tended to give him the cold shoulder even though he would try to flirt or maybe his attempt to be nice he would always bring me jumbo pixie stix because I had an odd obsession with them.

Probably not the first thought I that should’ve run through my mind while I was dangling 1,000 feet in the air off of the side of a mountain. But then again, I already knew how I got up there: as a novice, I was climbing a challenging, inclined trail with the hopes that my beat-up Chuck Taylor’s would support me the whole way up. Unfortunately, the Chucks let me down and one wrong step on a particularly steep incline landed me holding onto a metal bar holding on by whatever little grip strength my fingers could muster. the crisp mountain air gently rocking me back and forth, the lush foliage of the trees below me shivering in a feverish anticipation of what was to happen next. Up there I was afraid, probably more