Personal Narrative : My Best Friend Emily

It started as typical Tuesday with a couple of court hearings, maybe an arrest, but nothing to exciting. That all changed at dawn.

On April 26th,1999 I emerged into the world a happy baby given the name Bethany Gavin. I’m now in year 12 and I attend Cooks Hill Campus, Big Picture. My education began here in year 10 after leaving three years of home schooling and have grown as a student as the years have gone on.

September 9, 2015, a baby is born. With black hair, brown eyes, and the face of an angle, she was wrapped in a two blankets and pajamas. The name on the certificate, Elizabeth, and she is born 5 inches tall, weighs 6 ounces, and has a perfectly round head, she looks like a turtle as she stretches her neck. We call her our little lizard, but to be honest she looks more like turtle than a lizard any day. The hospital I go to, to see little lizard, smells like soap and hand sanitizer, it brings back memories of a moment in time 2 years ago when I walked down the same hospital corridors to see my area 51 baby, Evelynne. As I walk down the same hallway to the same room where I first saw my Evelynne I am reminded of a responsibility, a responsibility

My involvement with Best Buddies and UT SEEK (Student Engineers Educating Kids) has strengthened my appreciation for people of different backgrounds and conditions.

Olivia was amazing. Her kindness was a strange love, but when she loved you, you always knew. She was crazy in the best way possible. At UBMS, we shared a dorm. It was the closest we had ever been and being in that room with her for six weeks brought us closer than either of us thought we would ever be. We stayed up some nights till nearly one in the morning. We were both going through difficulties and they were more similar than we had known. One night I was telling Olivia about the fight Benjamin and I were in at the time. I had told him I was Atheist and he had not taken it well, as I had expected. She sounded a little shocked when the word ‘atheist’ had left my lips. I heard her shift, sit up, and turn. I couldn’t see her but I could feel

It was the beginning of fall season when Karla, a young, twenty-three year old fit and attractive gal moved to Wisconsin for college. Karla was an average woman that was five foot and six inches tall weighting about 135 pounds. The hazel eyes were an attractive feature along with her long dirty blonde hair. This young gal loved to work out and stay fit and healthy. The only thing she was self conscious about was her cut by her eye. After living in a smaller town of 500 people and graduating with forty students, she decided to move to a bigger city and go to a bigger school for something new. Karla went to school at University of Wisconsin-Stout. She didn’t have any trouble making new friends because she was the most friendliest and sociable

Then, as the last girl passed through, everyone went back to their places. I sucked in a rasped breath as I pushed the red, thick steel lunch room doors. With my hair covering the front of my face like a funeral veil, I examined the hard, smooth marble floors as I shuffled through the sea of shoes until I reached the wall. A hush fell over the crowd as the principal came strolling in. He started giving a speech about the school dance this Friday, yet I drowned him out. Today was January twenty-seventh, Stella’s birthday. I could not hold it in anymore as I sank against the wall, silently letting all the sorrow and despair flow out of me. Two pink sneakers came to rest on the glazed marble floors. “Well, do you not want to join us?” questioned a clipped, sickly sweet voice. Willing myself to raise my head, I slowly brought my eyes up. She was wearing a short checkered skirt with a navy blue collared shirt. I met the girl’s eyes. A shocking electric blue. “Well, are you going to answer me or not?” she asked again. “Um...sure…” I replied, mesmerized by the amount of makeup the girl had on. I felt hands on my shoulders as her crew pulled me to my feet. I stared at the floor the whole time until I reached the designated “popular”

In the summer of 2016, I had the opportunity to work as a sales representative, reservationist and outdoor services agent. After having more than adequate time to reflect on this experience and learn more about the experience I had through my HB classes this past Fall and Spring, I was able to have a meeting with my boss and inform her on my thoughts to greatly improve an issue we could encounter daily. Erin Hills is a championship golf resort located in Erin, Wisconsin, about an hour west of Milwaukee. This resort is host to 18 holes that match up with some of the best championship golf courses in the world as well as 39 beds to host overnight guests. These beds are split up into five four-bed cottages as well as a lodge that can sleep 19

Lastly and most importantly, I'm a daughter. Being any type of child to someone can bring much love but also a lot of hurting and responsibilities. When my sister was leaving for college it was very stressful for everyone, especially my mom because no matter how close you are with your children sending them to college in some small way feels like your losing them We have a big window looking outside into the front yard and street, l was sitting there done night reminiscing. My mother walked over and sat down beside me, we sat in silence for a while I looked over to her and she was heavily breathing, could smell some alcohol off her breathe.Tears we strolling down her face, she looked at me and said "Grace, know there's a lot going on, but just know that you can talk to me about anything I'll always be here.

I remember that it hurt, looking at her hurt. A beautiful line, no doubt, but I mustn’t take credit. I remember seeing her at her best. I remember telling myself that she would get better. I remember seeing what she would post on Facebook and pretending that I thought she wasn’t slowly killing herself. I remember seeing the blades sitting on her desk and throwing them in the trashcan and acting like they didn’t hold any significance, only to repeat the process the next weekend. I remember hearing her stories about falling out of that damned tree and telling myself, “Oh yeah. Those scars could totally be scrapes from the tree bark.” I remember ignoring the brokenness of her smile. I remember not doing anything about it, and I remember foolishly telling myself that it was all in my head.

She called his name once again and he then raised his hand slowly. She looked around the classroom until she found him. “Please say here next time” He just nodded his head slowly, still with his hood on. He seemed pretty quiet. The quiet kids usually sit in the way back but he sits upfront. “And no hoods indoors” Jonathan slowly slid his hood off his head, keeping his head down. When he took the hood off, he sunk lower in his seat in a slouching position. The day went by pretty fast as our first day and soon I was on my way to lunch. The doors were wide open as I walked through, on my way to the lunch line. I looked around the lunchroom to examine the area. I soon made eye contact with my friends and smiled. I got my lunch and paid for it. Walking over to my table, I saw something to the right of me. I sighed and continued my walk to the lunch table quickly. Once I got there I took a seat. “ Hey ya’ll” I said putting my tray down. “What’s wrong with you man” My friend Brooklyn said eating her sandwich. I sighed and looked in the direction of what I saw

“Hey, Amy…,” he greeted me, pressing a few buttons rapidly. “No… NO! Ah, crud! I was this close - this close!” He held up his hand, holding his thumb and index finger centimeters apart. Now, that he was facing me, I noticed that aside from the blonde hair, he looked a lot like me - same eyes, same frame, same nose. “What?” he asked me, noticing me staring. Startled, I muttered, “N-nothing. How was, uh, school?”

It is amazing how many things we take for granted. We make plans for the day, and don't think twice about how those plans can be taken away in the blink of an eye. I never thought much about it myself, until I was faced with the shock, and undeniable truth of my cousin's death. I don't think anyone really thinks about tragedy until they are actually faced with shocking news.

Just at that moment I was feeling some what comfortable in my skin, there was a startling clanging of the bell in the distance that made my heart want to race back home. Fear rushed into my body as I wrapped my arms around my brother holding on with all my might. I could just imagine how he must have felt, but he never said a word. As we were making our way to his class line, I heard a loud screeching voice pierce my ears with pain. “Excuse me boy, you need to get to your class line right now.” Not realizing she was speaking to me, I continued to stay with my brother. Maybe that wasn’t the smartest thing I did. The old, thin, wrinkled skin lady started marching in my direction holding a piece of bamboo in her hands. She glared at me and repeated even louder with more authority. “Get to your class line at once.”

It was Tuesday, July 18th. I was a nervous wreck. In desperate need of clothes to wear to impress... her. I begged my best friend Todd to join me at Woodfeild mall. He gave in and we went. Todd and I shopped for hours. Nothing looked good enough for...her. We were running out of time. I made-do with four short sleeve shirts from Champs and two pairs of sweatpants shorts from h&m. The total came out seventy dollars. We walked out and got into Todds car. I was shaking the entire ride home. Will she like it? Am I going to look fat? What about my acne? What if she doesn’t end up liking me? Nothing else crossed my mind as we pulled up to my house and I was dropped off. There was around an hour and a half until I had to leave. I walked inside