An Exciting Vacation

Author's Note: This is a short story on how we found that I have a seizure disorder.

I woke up in a soft bed surrounded by two men and my mom. My mom looked down at me holding my hand for dear life. I see the men with wires, needles, and tubes. Connecting, what seems like, 5 million wires to me. Poking me with needles and drawing my blood. Then it hit me. What’s going on? I was too out of it to comprehend the fact that I was in an ambulance and something bad had happened. In fact I was so out of it I just sat there smiled, looked around, and didn’t say a word.

Finally, one of the men looked at me and ask what my name was. I looked at him puzzled, because I thought to myself, what is my name? I looked at him and said in a giggly tone “I know this one!” I said as if I was being quizzed in school.

When we got to the hospital I was lifted by a big man onto a hospital bed and was wheeled into a small white room. I could hear only pieces of what my mom was saying to the doctor and beeping from the 5 million electrodes attached to me, I was still gaining consciousness. All I could see were lips moving and my mom’s concerned face. “She had a seizure,” my mom said. What? I had a seizure? I thought to myself. I had no idea what was going on. The only knowledge I had of seizures is that one time we thought my sister had one when she got her blood drawn, but it was false.

 I laid there silent, I had nothing to do or say. The rest of my family came. They walked in slowly, not know really what to do. Instantly my eldest sister, Katie, walks to my bed in tears and hugs me while I’m still trying to figure out what happened. The rest of my family walks over and gives me a hug. Once the doctor walked in he explained everything that happened. It turns out Katie was the one who found me seizing on the floor, that’s why she was so upset.

 A few I.Vs later I was released and was able to go back to the hotel. Oh yeah! I’m on vacation! I remembered as I entered the car. I completely forgot the fact that I was in Florida, that did brighten my mood a bit.

 Once we were back to the hotel I fell right back to sleep as if nothing ever happened. The next morning I woke up and was completely back to normal and it was time for some explanation. Katie told me that she heard choking and found me out of my bed and on the floor twitching. She screamed for my parents and my dad yelled for my mom to call 911.

Turns out there are stages in seizures. Stage 1, the twitching. Stage 2, I started spitting up like a baby that was just burped. Stage 3, foaming. My dad said I had foam coming out of my mouth and that’s when they thought that they might lose me. Stage 4, being delusional. I had absolutely no idea who anyone was and freaked out until the ambulance came. My parents had no idea what was going to happen after that. Was it cancer? Brain tumor? Or would I even make it through the night?

Today I am now taking medication for seizures, because we found out that it will be a lifelong battle. What happened to me I look at in perspective. I could have a tumor in my brain or it could be even worse. I am just thankful that I have the loving, supportive family I have and that I am going to be just fine.

The House That Built Me (Revised)

Author's Note: This is a text analysis piece that I revised.

This is the house that you colored on the walls when you were three years old and got a time out. The house where you fell off your bed and got a black eye. Where you took your prom pictures. The house were the love of your life called you and asked you on a date. This is the house that built you. Miranda Lambert was thinking of memories of that sort while writing the song, “The House That Built Me”.

For example, “But these handprints on the front steps are mine.” This is something that I believe many people can relate to. Not specifically having your handprints on your door step. Things like an indent on the front door is where your dad ran into because he thought the door was open and you and your sibling laughed for days. I can really relate to this verse because it instantly reminds me of when I was younger and just learned how to spell my name, so I carved it into the wood on the windowsill. Memories of these are the ones that build you and the things you carry with you as you grow older.

As you get older, we all are really like projects being built by our past. We are built by our dings, cuts, and indents. “I bet you didn’t know under that live oak
my favorite dog is buried in the yard,” a memory like this that Miranda including in her song is just a little example of the things that we carry with us forever and make us who we are.

Miranda Lambert’s lyrics remind me a lot of Dierks Bentley. One of his recent songs is home and he talks about many different things he loves about his hometown. “It’s been a long hard ride, got a ways to go, but this is still the place that we all call home.” This lyric is what really reminds me of Miranda and her writing about her home. Dierks mentions how his life has been tough at times and that there will be more struggles, but we all have a place that we call home. Both of their music, if it’s personal or not, are popular because what they sing about is so real and they don’t sugar coat anything. They talk about how life can sometimes not be fun and listeners really like that.

Once you reach the end of the song Miranda writes about how we will get lost and get hurt, but we will always find our way back home. “I thought if I could touch this place or feel this brokenness inside me might start healing.” This verse is something you can easily connect with because we have all felt broken or alone and have searched for something to save us.

I can really easily connect with a song like this because I have so many memories with my family and the house I’ve grown up in. Miranda did a wonderful job writing lyrics that will make the listeners remember memories like hers that she writes about. By the time I’m older I know I will get stuck in a rut every once in a while, but I always will remember the memories I have in the house that built me.

The House That Built Me

Author's Note: This is a text analysis on the song The House That Built Me by Miranda Lambert.

This is the house that you colored on the walls when you were three years old and got a time out. The house where you fell off your bed and got a black eye. Where you took your prom pictures. The house were the love of your life called you and asked you on a date. This is the house that built you. Miranda Lambert was thinking of memories of that sort while writing the song, The House That Built Me.

“But these hand prints on the front steps are mine.” This is something that I believe many people can relate to. Not specifically having your handprints on your door step. Things like an indent on the front door is where your dad ran into because he thought the door was open and you and your sibling laughed for days. I can really relate to this verse because it instantly reminds me of when I was younger and just learned how to spell my name, so I carved it into the wood on the windowsill. Memories of these are the ones that build you.

As you get older, we all are really like projects being built by our past. We are built by our dings, cuts, and indents. “I bet you didn’t know under that live oak
my favorite dog is buried in the yard,” a memory like this that Miranda including in her song is just a little example of the things that we carry with us forever and make us who we are.

Miranda Lambert’s lyrics remind me a lot of Dierks Bentley. He writes a lot about personal experience and memories from his past that I think really attracts people to his music. Both of their music, if it’s personal or not, are popular because what they sing about is so real and they don’t sugar coat anything. They talk about how life can sometimes not be fun and listeners really like that.

Once you reach the end of the song Miranda writes about how we will get lost and get hurt, but we will always find our way back home. “I thought if I could touch this place or feel this brokenness inside me might start healing.” That verse is a great example of being lost and finding yourself and remember what is really important; family.

I can really easily connect with a song like this because I have so many memories with my family and the house I’ve grown up in. Miranda did a wonderful job writing lyrics that will make the listeners remember memories like hers that she writes about. By the time I’m older I know I will get stuck in a rut every once in a while, but I always will remember the memories I have in the house that built me.

Letters To Elizabeth

Dear Elizabeth,

We had the absolute best Grandpa in the world. Sounds cliché, doesn’t it? But I really mean it. Every second of the day he’d do anything he could to either entertain or make someone laugh. He was a great husband, father, son, and friend. You, grandpa, and I had a movie-perfect granddaughter and grandfather relationship. When I say movie-perfect I mean relationships you’d see in the movies. Always laughing, going places together, playing games. He was like our best friend. Grandma and grandpa had just moved right across the street from us and it was the ultimate child’s dream.

When you’re a kid you always couldn’t wait until the day that you get to spend at grandma and grandpa’s house. Well, we had them just across the street and could walk right over whenever our heart desired.  The three of us had a special game we’d always love to play, no one else could play with us. Every time we played it, it ended with us laughing from the gut and barley being able to breathe. The point of the game is for him to find the two of us around the house. He’d take of his glasses and pretend he was completely blind and go around the house “blindly” walking around, acting as if he couldn’t see a thing! Once he found us after a good 20 minutes of searching, he’d scoop us into his arms and tickle us until we couldn’t take it anymore.

I embraced every one of those tickles, but it never occurred to me that one day those tickles and laughs with grandpa would have to go. Go to some place better. He passed away when I was five and you were 8. We were too young to lose such a close friend . It took me until after his funeral to really get upset about his death because, there were so many people trying to talk to me and hug me that I didn’t even have the time to think of what had happened in the past week. The feeling kept me numb on both the inside and out. It went by so quickly once we brought in all of the flowers, cards, and gifts from the car it was time to release the feelings I’ve been holding in for what feels like forever.

When I say forever, I mean it. The accident helped me get through losing grandpa, but grief is forever. The pain never leaves and the memories are engraved into my mind like our little hand prints in the cement on the sidewalk. Seeing those hand prints make me cringe, thinking of us swinging and laughing. When I look at the hand print I see you in a car being tossed like a rag doll. I see shards of glass from the wind shield being thrown around you. Then I see you in a hospital bed with wires on your chest, oxygen tubes in your nose and scars on your right side were the car hit you. I still grieve for grandpa and that part of you that I lost, but proceed to carry on. Ever since his passing I feel like death is an ugly dog following me at my feet, waiting to attack. Waiting to swallow me whole, eating away at me until I collapse. Until I snap back into focus and think about how you wouldn’t want me in this misery and I go on with my life. Carrying on and helping you fight through your injuries. That was one of grandpa’s expertise. He would give the best lectures and speeches. I really hope someday you will remember him again and the love he shared with us.

 I don’t really know what pushed me to write to you about grandpa but I thought that since we found that your memory is gone you would like to re-learn the special things about your family. Having to remind you of my name or feed you hurts. It makes me feel like I should be the one in the wheel chair. The day of the accident was a stupid mistake that I blame myself for. I was screaming and laughing and bugging mom, it’s not her fault she lost control of the wheel. Even though you are like a different person now, I know that somewhere Liz is there smiling.

                                                                                     With all of my love,

                                                                                                                                    Rebecca

Never will I Return

Author's Note: This is a parody of This is Just To Say. This isn't a book or anything I just wrote it in the form of the poem. My real parody is Forgive Me.

I have received your letters

My love

I apologize

I left so sudden

And which

You are probably

Waiting for

My return

I have

Moved on

And I will never

Come home to you

Forgive Me

I’m sorry

My children

For I have

Abandoned you

And which

You were hoping

And waiting

For freedom

Forgive me

It is the

House that has

Changed me

Author’s Note: This poem is about the book Flowers In the Attic by VC. Andrews. It is the mother apologizing to her four children for leaving them in the attic. Throughout the book you can tell that the mother is slowly becoming a cruel person. You then find that it is the house where they live that is causing her evil doings. 

I am the Beach

 Author's Note: This is my figurative language that I analyzed.