Personal Narrative: Scott Shaw's Home

I didn't always live in California. Before California I lived in Denver, Colorado. Before Denver I lived in Aurora, Colorado. When we moved to california we had a family of five. We moved to California, when I was six, Then we lived at my grandma’s house in Riverside for a year. We found a place on Ferree Street and that became our home.

Starting off with a picture of how days were when she experienced her fifth-grade summer, the author adds in details that seem so minuscule, and unimportant to set the setting. The information about the cost of riding a trolley and the ice truck driving around on a hot day with blocks of ice provides the readers with the background of her story. In addition, by using diction that the author used as a child, such as “that-old-thing” and “help-him-out,” she brings the story to life as if it were still the 1900s. Every tiny detail that the author remembers about her childhood shown in this passage proves to the readers how important her fifth-grade summer was to her.

It was a cold pretty windy night in Forest City. I was in 7th grade and I was staying at my best friend at the time Haley’s house. She also had Daelynn over but we won't really as good as friends. I remember the exact time when we thought of this amazing idea. It was 11:56 at night and daelynn has been smoking weed for awhile and she thought she needed some so she asked us. “Why don’t we call Jordan and ask him and Andrew if we could buy some weed from them.” Now at this point I was ready. I was preparing myself to do this crazy thing that we were about to do. Haley and I agreed to it and so she called Jordan over with his best friend Andrew. By this time it was about 12:08. They said they would but we would have to meet them at the courthouse

“I found a man’s body in the bushes down by the riverbank. When I checked him, I recognized the man, Steven Walker, and he had this in him,” Ernest said and handed the card to Michael. “I took this out of his pocket.”

When I opened my eyes only two things were on my mind, Sabrina Alistair Institution, something was important about these two things something about them had me drawn to them.... something.

It was another monotonous, scorching summer Friday. We had burgers and hot dogs on the grill sizzling and calling our taste buds. Then we had finished supper. Dad had a gig at Hudson Booster Days later that night. We went back outside to shoot some hoops. Jonah, Hannah, Eli, and I played a pickup basketball game and then got bored again. We went in to cool off a little and took a little break.

“Are we there yet?” I asked mum. To my excitement I finally heard ‘yes’, Nic we are at Rogers house!” It was a particularly cloudy night but it was still warm, the warmth may have been out of excitement. When we got inside we had to be quite as Roger and Ness’s baby Austin was asleep. I went outside to play with Blake my four year old cousin; we played volleyball, Soccer, Frisbee and cricket. Austin then woke up and my sister went off to care for him as she usually does.

Waking up and walking on the dried up, hot soil. Having the sun beating on your white face every morning. Birds zooming around the cactuses and singing a catchy tune. This is only the beginning of the best place in the universe, Tucson, Arizona. I have been visiting this place since I was a young child. My great grandparents built this house in Arizona 50 years ago. I have so many great memories.

My mom always tells me about our apartment on the eleventh floor in Belgium. Eleventh floor. That number’s been stuck in my head since I can remember. She says my dad had to climb endless stairs just to get home after work and that I would always run out the door with my pink Barbie like guitar to greet him. She tells me how I would wave good night to the giant air balloon that floated by like a hyper dog. We used to travel a lot when I lived in Belgium. At least that’s what my parents tell me.

The cool morning but apparent good October weather made it feel as if it’d be a good day. The large black man stood smiling and welcomed us with open arms as we walked into the building much before school that day was set to start, and as he motioned us into a conference room he said, “Welcome to St. Xavier High School, please be seated and we’ll start soon once just about everyone gets here.” And after sitting down anywhere we liked, because the Rumpke’s seemed to arrive early at places, waited for the other kids to roll in. Once they had all arrived, Pete and I sat talking

I turned up the heat to make sure that the car would be warm by the time my sister stumbled down the front steps of King Philip Middle school. The Autumn air started to turn bitter, and leaves coated the ground so that you could not walk without a symphony of crunches rising from under your step. A gust of wind rushed by, and I was thankful for my car cocoon, which covered me from the coming chills. My hands fumbled with the radio, searching for a “good” song. I heard the bell ring, and watched as adolescents, streamed out of the school bundled up for one of the first times this year. My sister slid into the car, and with her came a gust of cold air.

I woke up in my Santa Barbara house. With the ocean view outside my window, making me want to go back to sleep until I heard my two children scream at each other. I have a twelve-year-old boy named Lucas and a ten-year old girl named Daisy. My husband, Liam, has already left for work at PG&E. At the time I graduated he worked with my dad. We hosted a barbecue at my house and that was the start of things. He transferred to San Francisco where while I studied business at San Francisco University. I also played on the volleyball team there where we won college championships in 2025.

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It was the beginning of fall in Boston. My heart was full of excitement and relief. I had just transferred to a boarding school from a barbarous military school in south Texas. I had never been to New England; therefore, I was thrilled for a new adventure. The day before are first school day, Cushing Academy (my boarding school) had a parade for incoming students. I had made a few friends from football the week before during “pre-season”, so we all went to the parade that day.

It all started two weeks ago. I had just moved into a beautiful home. The owner of the home had sold it very cheap, I’d had wondered why, but didn’t care to ask .I was just glad I got such a great deal on such an amazing home. I was so excited that I bought a plaque with my name engraved on it. It reads “The Home of Matthew Jones,” it really wasn’t necessary but the amount of money that was left over after buying the house was incredible.