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One of the most unforgettable moments happened last year during the summer of 2016. Last year while i was on my annual trip to Cali, my family decided to take a trip to Medellin.That morning, we all got ready and packed all of our necessities for the couple days we were staying. We were all super excited to fly together as a family and just have lots of fun in Medellin. I was flying with my two cousins,my aunt and three family friends. We were a big group of people so we made sure to get to the airport with plenty amount of time. After checking in our luggage and getting past security, we still had about two hours to spare. We decided to just go sit and wait at our gate. We almost couldn't find a seat because it was so packed.After about an hour and thirty minutes, my aunt decided to go walk around and see if she wanted to buy something. Everyone else stayed and just continued to wait for boarding to begin. After about twenty minutes, my cousin and i decided to go look for her. We found her within a minute, she was at a bakery. My aunt loves food and she loves to buy people gifts even more. When we got to her, we noticed that she bought a coffee and a cupcake. She wanted to buy treats for everyone so the three of us just stood there deciding on what to buy for everyone. After a while, she bought another coffee and 4 cupcakes. While she was paying, she told me to give the coffee and cupcake to Helen(family friend). When i got there, the gate was completely empty.There was no one in site and I was really confused and didn't know what to do. My hands were full and i had to make a quick decision.I ran to the gate and the ladies at the gate told me the plane door is closed and we are no longer able to fly... Moments later my cousin came and i told her what happened while i was talking to the ladies. She went and got her mom. My cousin said that when she found her mom, her mom was donating coin by coin in the donation jar at the bakery. A few seconds later they both ran up and started talking to the ladies and they decided to open the plane door and let us go in. I was the first to enter the plane, holding a coffee in one hand and a cupcake in the other while everyone stared at me because we were keeping the plane from leaving. We were so late  that the flight attendants were already saying the rules and everyone was seated with their safety belts on. We told everyone what happened and we couldn't stop laughing. Our family friend Helen told us she made the biggest scene and even started fake crying because she didn't know where we were and it was time to leave. We all arrived safely and had a great trip!

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“Revive him! I said revive the poor soul, ya yokels!” That was all I heard while I laid there, and what laid there was a soldier without a name. I saw dozens of Jerry’s storm troopers rush past me, executing every last friend in sight. I closed my eyes and dreamed of a simpler life; one where our efforts to take back Point Butter at Monte Grappa wasn’t futile. It has already been 3 minutes since the battle commenced, and already have I failed to capture the only objective my commanding officer ordered me to do.

Before I was about to close my eyes for the last time, to see a never ending darkness presiding over me, an Italian soldier snuck past an ambush taking place near an old cannon where I was at. I was underground, but there lead a secret tunnel near the trenches. His squad must’ve have killed the rest of the remaining storm troopers that were hiding in corners of the room. He sticks his syringe in me, I flash back into reality with a huge whale. I stick my hands up in the air to surrender as his friends had their guns pointed at me and their bayonets an inch away from piercing my heart, the medic of the squad talks, “non indossare il colore della nostra nazione, ma si indossano i nostri cappelli.” My life depended on if I even understood that. I responded, “Non parlo italiano.” The Italian medic tells his friends to lower their guns. It has now been 8 minutes in the war at this point and I have survived death twice. He wonders why I sport their hat but wear British colors. I explain to him that I was issued by the British army to fight alongside the italians. They did not give me an italian uniform but I had to pick up the hat of a dead soldier to avoid friendly fire.

The Italian replies, “we have 48 minutes before we lose this battle.” He hands me a rifle and we proceed to leave Bravo through a gravel-ridden path that leads to Point Cheese, which composed of a large tunnel that housed Jerry’s supplies. I kill a couple troopers, but the Italian medic’s crew didn’t live past entrance to the tunnel. I stood guard at a door on side of the tunnel that lead to an exit. I stood position until we successfully captured Cheese. The italian medic was watching the front, killing stormtroopers rushing desperately to capture it before they get pushed back. 12 minutes in the war and I am close to capturing my first objective.

I plunged through dozens of German soldiers, until my internet snapped. EA servers were offline for the fourth freakin’ time this week. THE END

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Ever since I could remember, I have spent Christmas at my grandmother’s house, a house which is full of comfort, warmth, and happiness. At Christmas, I have always been able to escape the cold and dark real world allowing myself to truly enjoy just several moments in time. These moments have left impressionable memories from my childhood making christmada holiday that is special to me and my family. It is a time for my family to get together, share stories, laugh, and even cry.

My most memorable Christmas is one from my past. I was about six years old. I clearly remember sitting in class on the last day of school before Christmas vacation anticipating the bell to ring and signify that the classes were finally over. As the bell rang, I ran out of that class, and once I got home I was ready in an instant to leave for my grandmother’s where I would spend my holidays. It was a two hour drive to my grandmother’s house. I was very impatient throughout the entire drive. I couldn’t wait to see my grandma, my cousin, and my aunts. To make things better, however, snow started to fall filling me with hopes of a snowball fight the next day.

Finally, we arrived at our destination. I left the car leaving my parents and little brother behind and ran up the steps to my grandma’s house. I just had to be the first one to knock on her door, so I did. She opened the door for me, and I went inside parting with the bitter cold and darkness surrounding me. Inside the house I was immediately encircled with the aromas of her Christmas cooking and baking. A real fresh Christmas tree which was already beautifully adorned with old family ornaments perforated the air with more holiday aromas.

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When I was little I had a really good friend who I would often spend all my time with. I would always go to his dad’s house and we would hang out for hours at a time. At this point I haven’t even met his mom because his parents were divorced. After knowing him for a year and going to his dad’s house almost every weekend I finally had the chance to go to his mother’s house. Being that I was in the 3rd grade when we were friends, I didn’t really care which parent I was with I just enjoyed being in a new environment with different things to do. After a day full of play, dinner time arrived. It was a well prepared dinner that the family obviously spent a decent amount of time on. We all sat down and we ate and we laughed about things that were going on in our lives. As the night carried on we became tired and we all drifted off to sleep.

I woke up refreshed and happy after a great night with my friend and his family. We heard the call for breakfast so we got up and out of bed to answer the call. Little did I know I was about to have one of the worst days of my life. As soon as I got up and out of bed I feel this painful knotting feeling in the pit of my stomach. I just thought it was a cramp so I let it be. Once we ate breakfast the pain hit me again, except it hit me even harder this time and I felt it moving up. I ended up laying on the couch gripping my stomach. My friend’s mother called me over so I ignored the throbbing pain in my stomach and went into the kitchen. The moment I stepped foot in the kitchen I whirled my hands over my mouth and I knew what was about to happen. The very first time I went to my friend’s mother’s house I threw up everywhere. It was the single most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me. I never talked to him again.

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There was a time when i was 16 years old going through the Mexican-American border on the way to visit my grandparents for vacation. By the time we arrived at the checkpoint, there was already corrupt officers accepting bribes and leading people to the wrong direction to get Mexican car insurance. My cousins and I experienced that as well as many others. This was already my first impression on my parents’ home country. We were directed to a Mexican jail in which was not even close to the Mexican insurance building. After getting everything settled, we were on our way to Monterrey in order to take the highway straight to my family’s hometown. We reached a checkpoint with officers there asking for driver’s licenses and visas. They checked mine and realized I was an American citizen. The officer asked my cousin if I had a notary card which was something I didn’t have. They were close to making us go back to the U.S. to receive one. Luckily they let us go, however, the next checkpoint was a lot stricter making us drive 2 hours back to Texas just for a sheet of paper saying I had permission from my parents. We instead went to a nearby store that had computer service. I emailed my mom and told her to send me it and I printed it out. After leaving the store, we went back to the checkpoint and showed them the card. The officers didn’t want to accept it from how fast we went back. We had to tell them we found it hiding in my luggage and they finally let us through. After just an hour of driving past that checkpoint we rear ended a tractor trailer. Surprisingly, that truck did not feel one simple budge from that hit. Luckily, the car still ran, but we had to make a stop at Monterrey in order to get a few tires replaced from the aggressive braking. Looking for two tires for a car in Monterrey was harder than finding German car parts in the United States. I was only in northern Mexico for 3 hours and I already had a bad impression for it.

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A time my parents never found out about. After school 3 years ago me and my friends decided that we wanted to go to the junkyard right behind my neighborhood, as we always did. We all met up after getting home and walked to down the neighborhood, through someone’s yard, across the creek, up a hill, through barbed wire and over a fence. This junkyard is like no other. They constantly drove around on fourwheelers and there was always workers nearby checking every hour or so, making sure people like us didn’t didn’t get in. We started off looking around making sure we wouldn’t get caught, then we ran up a path hidden by trees. I ran first, then my friend. We were safe from all visual contact. As we started to walk around we did things like jumping from car to car, to cow tipping at night in the pasture right beside the junkyard and taking keys and the old license plates off the back of cars. The days seemed endless until i heard 2 gunshots behind me. We got caught and had to run out of fear of our lives Those days make life worth living. The memories were all worth it.

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A memorable moment for me is the first time I visited a college out of state. I thought I was not going to like it because there was going to be a lot of other people there and the fact that it was out of state. I’m honestly not a people person and I never been out of state so I really did not want to go at first. I’m not a fan of talking much to people especially if I don’t know them or ever spoke to them. The program at the college was for four days and I really thought it was going to go by slow. I actually turned out liking the trip by the second day because I was able to meet a lot of people from different states and became friends with them. I didn’t think I was going to talk to anyone there but it was either that or I would've just been by myself the whole time. Additionally, it helped me get a little insight on what college will be like for freshman year since I will have to start off not knowing anyone there. I was able to experience what it will feel like to live in a dorm. Some days I wish I could go back because I liked how everything was and it made me want to travel when I get out of high school.

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One day me and my brother were home alone and we decided we wanted to listen to music while my grandparents, mom, and older brother were at work. Keep in mind we were not aloud to blast the music because the bass on the radio was too high and it would make things fall off the wall. So, while my family was at work we turn the radio on at first we did not know how to work the radio so we were like okay, we just won’t mess with it. Then later on that day we, again, decided we wanted to listen to music. So as me and my brother were messing with the radio we figured out how to change the station and as soon as we clicked it the radio was already loud and had giggled the silverware that was sitting on the dining room table. We hurried up and turned it down before anything broke. After we had found out how the radio worked we plugged our music into it and did not actually realize that no matter how low the music is the base was still very high. I went into the bathroom while my phone was still in the dining room, still hooked up to the bluetooth and as soon as i turned the water on in the bathroom, i heard a “BING!” I walked, calmly,  into the living room and realized it was a picture that had fallen off the wall. I did not pay much attention to that because i figured it was already hanging on a thread and was about to fall. I put it back up and went back into the bathroom to finish cleaning it and about thirty minutes later i heard a “CLASH!” I ran quickly into the dining room and realized it was my grandmother’s favorite plate with one of the presidents on it. I hurried up and picked up the pieces and hid it in my closet, it was in there for about 3 months, then my grandma decided she wanted to help me get rid of some of the my old clothes that i did not wear anymore and she found it. She was really upset, mostly because i did not tell her when it happened and hid it in my closet.

-Taylor brewer

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Moving to another country at a young age can be challenging. It comes with different traditions and abnormal society. I can still remember that day when I first moved here from Africa. I thought I was going to die. Arriving at John F. Kennedy Airport, I was scared because there were so many things going that I’ve never seen before. My first going down an escalator, I thought I was going to be eaten up. Seeing all these people going down had me confuse. In my mind I thought so many different things. That day was very important to me because it was going to be my first time meeting my parents since I was born. Looking at the smile on my parents face made me happy as a child that very day. The temperature was far different from what I was use to. The color diversity I was not used to either. I saw different varieties of skin complexion unlike where I was from you saw one solid color. I was scared and devastated because I had missed home and all my friends. Life was not going to be the same anymore. As time began to pass by I grew into liking the new change. I made many friends I never thought I would.
By: William

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It was like I was in toy aisle , I had hundreds of options to choose which ever toy I wanted...but I already knew what I wanted as soon as I spotted it. I was stubborn yet so upset. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to get what I wanted… It didn't look like it would pertain to me. I wanted it more than anything ever , I didn’t even think there would be a chance.  It was my first real crush ever. It was ninth grade year of my high school career , and I came across an unfamiliar face. A face that never once left my mind nor did I ever wanted it to leave. It was one of those things in which you found so much interest in that you really just had to truly find out what it really is about. It was her , that was the very first girl that I truly had a crush on. However , for a first crush it was indeed quite different from any first crush you’ll ever hear about. It was different because I felt the strangest feeling in my stomach and in my chest. I didn’t know what it was at the time but it truly felt strange and weirdly enough.. it was a pleasant feeling that I didn’t ever want to see go away. But as i wondered and wondered minute lessly , i came to realization that I was no one. In fact , i really didn't know anybody. Nor did i want to , i didn't want to because that was who i was , i was awkward , shy , and just plain out weird. It broke me into pieces as i came back to reality that i really was not even gonna receive a chance to talk to this girl i was mesmerizing upon on. So i went throughout the entire school year admiring this mysterious and beautiful girl that i truly just felt attracted to. Well eventually , i tried to purposely forgetting about her because it pained me to look at her every time knowing a guy like me wouldn’t ever stand a chance with a girl like that. The year ended and i had almost forgotten about the girl , and i was practically back at peace with my feelings. However , it wasn’t until my sophomore year until things got really interesting. Things got really interesting when i sat down in one of my classes that i had been assigned and found that very girl i fell in love with at first sight was sitting right next to me.. I was shocked in utter disbelief. I had no words , i had no way of even thinking properly. I tried giving it my best cool but i knew that i had must of looked like i was looking at a ghost or something because i was feeling extremely light headed. As the teacher was calling role , the teacher got to her name. It was a name that until this day yet , i will never forget. A name that appears on the back of my mind even through the toughest of days. A name that helps me through any conflict that i could go through , a name that makes worth waking up to every morning. It’s a nice feeling and i praise it more than anything. As the teacher called the roll down , he got to my name. I definitely was not looking into being called on and have attention pointed towards me. “ Juan Morales?” I looked at the teacher in disbelief as he looked at me. “ Were in this together Juan!” those very first words were the first thing i ever heard come out of her mouth. She said those words in a manner of excitement and joy! I was confused , i was so confused that i didn’t know what to say back but smile weirdly. Definitely not a good thing. I was happy though , i was happy because i knew that i might just get one chance to talk to her , a chance that i wouldn’t want to ever miss. It felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity. Class was over , and she quickly dashed out of class and ran to what i saw was her boyfriend. I was destroyed , i was broken in pieces. I just didn’t feel anything , i had no emotion. It was rather a tactic my feelings do for me , it's what kept me okay and functioning. It was for the best of me. Well i'm gonna wrap it up and tell you that i can indeed tell you everything that happened over the time. I ended up being friends with her and even had the ONE chance to be called hers. But being not so intelligent all the time , i missed it and felt like utter poop. It's okay now though , because i got another chance and this time. Shes mine , shes mine and i'm happy that she is because she's happy. All i want from her is her happiness and joy , no matter what happens or what is going on. I love her death , i care about her because she thought me one thing she doesn’t know she did and that’s that nothing is impossible. If things happen , they happen for a reason and it's an understanding that I’ve always wanted to look for.

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There were twelve of us total. Six on one team, six on the other. The timer starts to count down 15, 14, 13, 12...my mentality was nothing but to win...5, 4, 3, 2, 1, begin. “Alright, let’s get started,”  I told myself and the my partner next to me. The team starts to go in their separate ways, which was okay as long as we get the mission done. All of a sudden, it starts. Nothing but explosions and loud noises were all around me. Next thing I knew, I was shot and died. I came back a minute later and started again. I look to the scoreboard and and we were down 2-0 in the first round which quickly changed to 3-0 and that was the end of the first. As the teams are going back to their location so the second round can begin, I hear nothing but complaints.

Once the second round begins my team does the exact same thing as last time. As soon as we are down 2-0 again, my whole team leaves and it’s just me and my friend. Now it’s 2 vs. 6. We look at each other and we know exactly what to do. The timer is running out and me and him have tied the match 2-2 when finally we capture their flag again for the third time to win the round. I was so excited that we had won the second round because that means we go into overtime. Again, it was still 2 vs. 6 and me and my friend were dominating. All we had to do was capture the flag three times and we would when the whole thing. We were already up 2-0 and needed one more. I’m running and all of a sudden I get blown up. I come back a minute later only to realize that I wasn’t alone. My team had gotten four players and it was 6 vs. 6 again. The opposing team captured a flag. “Okay,” I told myself, “it’s only one.” Then it happened again and right before I knew it, I had lost the game. With anger at myself, I got up, took the game out, and put in another one. I look over to my friend who is also in disbelief and I tell him “ let’s beat people in 2k15.”

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When I was 9 years old, me and my family went to Panama City beach. I loved every moment of it. The hotel was fascinating and the pools were phenomenal. Everything was going great until the last day of our trip. My brother and I deciding to go to the beach one last time before piling back into the car to head home. The waves were massive that day and I sat starstruck at the beauty of the sun reflecting off the water. We ran down the beach and sprang into the ocean. I immediately started swimming out to play in the giant waves not knowing what they were capable of. All of the excitement left my body when a huge wave came crashing down on top of me pulling my body under the water. I remember the force of the wave folding me up as if I were a piece of paper. I rose up from the water only to see many people laughing at me. I couldn’t help but run away with tears running down my face not from the wave, but the humility I had felt. I now know that if people are laughing it’s because you’re ok and it really is a funny situation, so I laugh along.

By: squeeps27

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Have you ever wonder why you received a compliment? Sometimes i ask myself, “ Man, did I really deserve that compliment?” If I can recall correctly, this has happened to me throughout my entire life; I personally find it funny because majority of the time I am told false information regarding to myself. Yes, I know, so far it sounds like I have personal issues pertaining to my esteem… But I want to ensure you that I have a great self esteem. Now, many people feel uncomfortable with their skin; people usually make the remarks of, “ I look gross” or “ Man, I’m ugly”, but for me I honestly know I am ugly and it's fine, because in the words of SpongeBob “ I’m ugly and I’m proud.” As a compliment it feels great, I mean when I hear someone say I'm not “ugly” I usually am surprised because I don't deserved to be called good looking or not that bad looking. But I mean I don't deserve to have the honor of being “good looking” or “not that bad”, I mean I'm just flat out ugly, but i mean life goes on and at the end of the day, I’m still the same person and nothing has changed.

-Ya Boi Kevin Xiong

P.S. this is satirical, I really could careless about how people think I look.

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Standing on my friends back porch, I stood in the sweltering heat. It was the end of July, but still as hot as the day began. I listened to the wind chimes and the screen door slamming behind me. And I felt, the wind, grazing my face and tousling my hair. The smell of sweet summer air and old oranges I had peeled earlier that day. I then closed my eyes and felt the earth caress my senses. The warm sunshine seeped through my eyelids and kissed my freckles. The sweet summer was being ripped from me. The clouds danced around me, as the the sun waved in despair. The dog days were over, but as much as I loved those heated dog days, life was about moving on, so I followed that breeze. I exhaled in relief and inhaled with a new beginning. My life was about to begin with full force.

Ramona Beez

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When i was little my mom always warned me against running in the house. But I never listened until her warnings became reality. It was 8 am, about 8 months ago, when i decided to run through my house after my dog; that was the morning of my first ever ambulance ride. I fell in the kitchen that morning and landed on a glass bowl, which of course shattered, and cut my leg and foot. I was rushed to the hospital where I got 37 stitches total in my left leg, 16 in my foot and 21 in my knee. The two men who came in the ambulance had a good laugh and took pics of my leg to teach their kids a lesson about running in the house. After i left the hospital i was on crutches and had a knee immobilizer on my leg for about a month during the summer. Plus i had to have surgery 2 months later because they left class in my knee. But i will forever remember the day that I finally learned not to run in the house, and don’t have a glass bowl for a dog’s water bowl. And granted it hurt like crazy and i lost a lot of blood that day, i will forever embrace the fact that I’m a major klutz and I’m proud to be.

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When I was younger and in elementary school i was bullied everyday about something. My hair, clothing, how I talked about anything you can think of I was but the worst day I got bullied on were my birthdays. I remember my seventh birthday the most. I wake up and my mom said happy birthday the only too say it so far. I get to school no one said happy birthday . The boys would throw stuff at me hit call me name. The girl would just tell me I smelled, no like me, I was ugly and the i can never been / do anything. Later at recce I would play by myself on the swing as other run by just yelling hurtful name at me. The teacher never did anything and if I would tell it would be worse for me. So I would just want for the end of the day to go home cry and play with the only people who understood my stuffed animals. At the end of school I want to my daycare to wait for my dad to pick me up since my mom had to close and couldn't be home. She was never home on my birthday since her work would never give her it off. Once my father pick me up and we were on the way him he said happy birthday and asked how was it so far. I told him good which was a lay. Once we got home I walk into the kitchen to get a drink and then I saw six cupcake sitting there, two happy birthday balloons, a stuffed loin and a card. I look at my dad and then opened the card and it said ¨Happy Birthday I hope you are having and great day and I love you wish I could be there with you love mommy.¨ I looked up at my dad crying as he give me the phone. My mom was on the other end and I said ¨Hello¨? It was my mom. She spoke and said ¨Hello? How was your day I hope you had a great one¨. I could feel her smile on the other end and I started to cry even hard and told her about what happened that day. She told me how sorry she was and wanted to be there to hold me and told me not to cry. She hold to go back to work now. We each said go by and we loved each other. I give the phone to my dad after and he hugged me. Let I was talking to my mom and ask if she remember this day and she looked at me and said “I can believe you remember that “.

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KWChildhood Memory

When I was about 6 years old, I lived in the Getto with my mom and brother because my mom was a single mother and we were poor so it was the only place we could afford. So I used to walk around the hood with my brother and a couple of friends that parents that do drugs and front of them and stuff. So one day we were walking it was me, my brother and two friends of ours named Tyreak and Tyron and so we were just walking around trying to find something to do and all of a sudden the drug dealer pulls up to their parents and walks in to sell them their drugs.

So they are in there for about an hour and a half and so we just sit on the side of the road and wait for them to come out, 20 more minutes went by and all of a sudden we heard a gunshot and 2 minutes after the gunshot the drug dealers ran out and the police came rolling around the corner one police car stop at the house and the other 3 chased the dealer. So use four walked in the house and both of my friends parents were shot dead in the head. The police finished up and cleaned up and took away the only two friends I had at the time and I never seen them again.

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The first time I flew by myself was Christmas 2013, I was so excited; I was going to see my father for the first time in almost two years. Growing up, I was a “daddy’s girl,” where ever my dad went, I went too. When I moved to Georgia in 2010, it was very difficult for me because I wasn’t able to be with my father all the time anymore, I only really saw him two or three times a year. But in 2012, he moved to Wisconsin and the two to three times a year that I was able to see him changed to once every year and a half or so. He planned a trip for us to go to Orlando to visit my grandmother, his mom. If I had known then, stepping off that plane, what I know now, I wouldn’t have taken those precious few days I had with him for granted. January 1, 2014 was the last day I ever saw my dad alive. The next time I would board a plane to see my father again would be to say goodbye to my father forever. September 7, 2015 my dad died alone, with the closest family 1,000 miles away. Stepping onto the plane this time, I wished for nothing more than for it to be Christmas 2013 again. In the following months I realized that you never know when you’re last day is going to be; you need to spend as much time with your loved ones as possible because they may not be here tomorrow.

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When I was in 5th grade i had to leave my childhood home. All of my family and friends lived in Ohio but my mom thought Georgia was better. My family and I traveled 12 hours by car from Ohio to Georgia. We only stopped for food and bathroom breaks. My brother and I were very sad because we were leaving all of our friends and we didn't want to have to start over. My younger siblings were too young so they didn't have much that they were leaving. When we got to Georgia it was very bad because my brother and I had to start a new school in the middle of the school year. The school here was very different because in Ohio 5th grade was in middle school but here 5th grade is in Elementary school. Going to school the first day was very weird because everyone kept saying that i had an accent but I thought they had an accent. It was also very annoying because all of the teachers had me introduce myself and i didn't like talking in front of crowds. After a week I started to like the school though because i met some people that i am still friends with today.

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Just a couple of months ago i got told that i wouldn’t be able to keep my pet squirrel forever because she would become wild but i was gonna try to keep her anyways. I raised her as a baby maybe only 4 weeks old her eyes weren’t opened yet. I had to learn how to take care of her and what she need. As she got older she got to where she wanted to climb more so we got her a cage. Her instincts started to kick in and she started becoming more wild.  Well one night i was laying in bed and i saw a fluffy tail she had found a way to open her cage. So we fixed that and then i was not home one day and i got a call that she was out in my room. She had ate the plastic part of the cage and made a hole big enough for her to fit through. I fixed where she made the hole but the next day was worse. I come home from school and she had peed on my bed and chewed on my furniture. I learned that my dad was right and my room turned out to be a mess for me to learn my lesson. I ended up building her a squirrel box to put on the tree and let her go free.

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The day was March 22nd 1998 I was born in Winder Ga I was named after my dad Phillip Edward Thrasher Sr. As the years go by I think to myself I looked as a kid.It's been nearly 19 years since I stepped foot in that hospital since being born there.Until the day I die I will always be known as Phillip Edward Thrasher Jr.I was supposed to be born in April but I was a month early.Me and my dad developed a bond no other father and son has never been closer.We go to breakfest together sometimes on the weekends when he has time.I’ve lived my life one day at a time I was baptized in December of 2014 that was almost one after my brother had died.

THE

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The oldest person i know is my great-grandfather, Papa. He passed away on Friday January 20, 2017. He was 93 when he passed away. He lived a life full of innovations, hardship, and love. My papa was drafted into WWII along with 18 other boys on his street. He wrote a diary, starting it off on the day his ship left to go fight for our country. He mentioned many days and nights of terror, that followed with days of happiness. When he returned home a few years later, he realized that out of the 18 boys that were drafted on his street, he was the only one to live and make it home. He never took a day he was gave on this Earth for granted. He loved his family and my great-grandmother with every bone in his body. He taught me what it was like to be an honest and honorable man. He showed me that no matter what you’re going through in life, God will always be there to help guide you. He was the greatest man i’ve ever known and i will always strive to be half the man he was.

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A trip that i really would not want to take again would be this one time when me and a large group of people that i worked with were planning on going on a white water rafting trip but it went all wrong on the way there. So we started driving and everything was fine we were listening to music and talking for a long time and then somebody made the comment “shouldn't we be there already” and we pulled up the directions after we had been driving for about an hour and a half. We realized that we had been going the opposite way fro and hour and a half! This pretty much tore me up but i wasn't going to let the driver know that because he as a good guy and it was an honest mistake. William, the driver, felt devastated knowing that everyone in the car was looking forward to what water rafting and he just messed it all up. Everyone was down in the dumps but we had to find something to do to make the day better and we were already really close to savannah so we decided to go ahead and drive to the beach and we ended up having a good time even though we only went to the beach for an hour we didn't let the day go to waste. I still felt sad when i thought about everyone else white water rafting but we all tol William that we had a lot of run and we would have rather went to the beach and he felt better about it. I know that we all would have had more fun going rafting but i think the moral of the story is that when you don’t get the best thing you were expecting and you get something less you still have to make the best out of it and have fun.

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My grandfather and i were very close. He and i used to go out to his workshop that he built and make birdhouses, shelves, and other projects for fun. He is the reason i have a deep fascination with producing physical products for people to enjoy, and his mathematical mindset that he shared with me is part of the reason i do well in school. During my seventh grade year, i was meant to be building a cabinet with him during the weekends and breaks, but he suddenly had to be rushed to the hospital. According to the doctor, he had Bladder cancer that spread to every organ between that and his brain. The brain cancer is what finally brought him down the doctor said commending his body’s ability to suppress the other cancerous cells and keep him functioning. His deep fear of doctors and hatred of hospitals came from his time and the military, and since he left he only went to a hospital if he couldn’t tough it out. He was in a coma for 3 months at Athens regional which was hard for my father as he was working there at the time. Ultimately he was moved to a hospice center, and died peacefully. The unfortunate bit is the fact that his death happened around 3 in the morning on the  day of my thirteenth birthday. The man i respected and looked up just as much if not more than my father left this world on the memorial of the day i entered it. - Jacob F