Personal Narrative: The Trail Of Hope

My legacy can be remembered by a lot of people if I want it to. It all depends on how I put myself out there, and I want to be out there to be remembered. When people think about me, I want them to think positive thoughts. I would like to be thought of as a person who was very kind, funny, helpful, smart, and other good character traits like that. Having these personality traits can make my other classmates better at what they do in school. But, if I do something wrong, or incorrect if I leave a bad trail for for my classmates to follow that means that's how those people are going to remember me as. I know for a fact that is not how I want people to think about somewhere in the future or right know in the present.

I have gone through many experiences that have tried to tear me down. Life will never seize to throw obstacles my way. These obstacles, however, have proven to be positives that fuel me to be the person I never knew before. They teach me to stand out while taking a stand and be the powerful, independent woman that I am meant to be.

Growing up with a father in the military, you move around a lot more than you would like to. I was born just east of St. Louis in a city called Shiloh in Illinois. When I was two years old my dad got the assignment to move to Hawaii. We spent seven great years in Hawaii, we had one of the greatest churches I have ever been to name New Hope. New Hope was a lot like Olivet's atmosphere, the people were always friendly and there always something to keep someone busy. I used to dance at church, I did hip-hop and interpretive dance, but you could never tell that from the way I look now.

Imagine being at the peak of your high school career, personally, academically, and athletically. For me, that was my sophomore year. I was selected to be on the homecoming court, I won a free class ring, and a free corsage and boutonniere for prom. I was on my way to a 4.0 grade point average. I was pulled up to Varsity basketball, I became the 100 meter hurdle regional champion, and I qualified for two events at the Division 4 State meet for track and field. In one split second, a clip of a hurdle, that was over. My first race of the day was the preliminary 100 meter hurdles. Once the race started, I was calm, focused, and determined. I was starting to make my way up to the front of the pack when I clipped my trail leg on the eighth hurdle.

As we continued along the trail, we were stopped by a very steep hill. Hunter announced that we should dump some stuff from our wagon in order to get on top of the hill. I dump my a tired that I bought recently and a barrel with nothing in it. The trip up the hill was a pain. It took so long to get up the hill I almost fell asleep. My leg was sore and I thinking about giving up. Finally we made it to the top of the hill and we realized that we had to go down the hill. We decided to use our own ropes and slowly descend our wagon one by one. When we descend Curtis’s wagon, Curtis almost fell. He was able to caught himself before he fell down the hill. Well all went down the hill and as we were going down the hill, we saw a divine blue spring

When I got fired from my job over the summer I realized there wasn't a lot to do. I was bored. This led to me exploring the woods around my house.I found lots of things, old oil cans, empty budweisers, and coyote traps, but the biggest thing I found was a trailer.

I have been in the Marine Corps for roughly three and a half years and throughout that time I have done many things. Most of the things that I have done were with Combat Logistics Battalion 26. For three years, I worked with that unit through work ups and a deployment and I have seen and done many unique things. However, nothing I did with CLB 26 felt fulfilling, but that all changed when I changed units to CLB 8.

Many people have left legacies from when they were alive. Some are good, and some are bad. Those people may not agree with what they have left behind, and some may be perfectly okay with theirs. For me, I would like to leave behind a legacy that shows my family that I was a good person. I would want them to know that I had good intentions for my life and that I wanted to do good for myself and others. In this essay, I will explain what I would like my legacy to be like.

After much consideration my husband and I have decided that Michael will not longer be attending The Reason For Hope effective immediately. I welcome the chance to sit down and talk with you should you choose to discuss the situation. It was not easy to arrive at this decision but it has been a long time coming. We have been increasingly more uncomfortable with your program in recent months for the reasons below.

When you parents tell you not to do something do you just do it anyways. Well I do and this time I think I learnt my lesson. It all started on a normal Saturday and we were gonna go on a hike, but none of us wanted to go somewhere so we just did it at home. We got our bags and water ready and busted for the trail. I thought it was gonna be a normal day and we would all have fun, but I got proved wrong. The trail itself is about three miles and a couple of extra steps,but with the surprise we only walked a mile of it.

“Hey you want to drive”, my step-dad yelled over the loud engine of blue grizzly 4x4 quad I yelled “yes!!”, so as I got one the quad I put on my helmet and fased the strap on the same color helmet.

I slid into stiff boots, strapped a fifty pound pack to my back, and set out on my trek through the wilderness. As I stepped from asphalt to the dirt trail, excitement for the next five days rushed over me. Each stride brought me farther from the comforts of civilization, deeper into the natural habitats of hundreds of species. The reversal of roles filled me with respect, for it was I, not them, who was the intruder. My surroundings were untouched, unspoiled by the destructive forces of man. I was awestruck by the rough, uncut beauty. The trail itself was a source of joy; it was as distinctive and engaging as Mother Nature herself. Every bend brought forth new challenges, presented new opportunities to distinguish myself as a hiker. Once,

I've been fairly busy as of late. Notably, yesterday was a pretty interesting day. I'm not exactly feeling well, think I'm coming down with something. How often is it that a Jedi contracts a cold? Just not feeling as spry, I think. My stomach is churning as I type, something is missing, think I might have to take a reprieve sooner rather than later. Maybe I'll be gone for a cycle, maybe I'll be gone for a year. I don't know. I just know that I need to focus on other things. That's not the point of this entry, however.

The lives I would touch for my legacy would be my family and friends because those are the people that care about me and what I do. That they would help me out with anything I need. My major accomplishment would be a pro soccer player and go to Rutgers College. The other accomplishment in my life would be to get very good grades in school to get a good education.

My current understanding of hope is a wishful feeling of expectations and an aspiration of certain things to happen. Having hope can also just simply be a feeling of trust that something will happen or be intending to do things if they are possible. My understanding of despair just stems from my understanding of hope. Despair is lacking any and all hope. Despair leads to complete discouragement, which often is accompanied by unhappiness, grief, desperation, and distress. I believe these two feelings to be closely related because in a sense you must have one for the other to exist. Having these expectations and aspirations fail are what ultimately lead to despair. Can you really experience despair without ever experience the feelings of hope?