Graf #20 (Reaction to My Writing)

                This semester, I have written many, many things. Mostly good, but sometimes I had days where I didn’t write as good as I could have. From writing all the different stories and being taught how to write different types of essays, I have become a better writer. From writing about Kevin or Sirus, to writing about my hobbies - I have grown to know my writing style, better. I have also realized that I have a great passion for writing. Although I will probably never pursue this passion as a career, I will always know that I am a good writer. I am thankful for taking this class. It has inspired me to become more creative with my writing. 

Essay #10 (Timed Division Essay)

                When you live in Maine, you’re forced to experience all the seasons of the year. There is the season of storage, yard work, and insulation preparations for winter, the actual winter with snow and ice season, the after effects of winter with flooding, mud, and rainy weather, and then a short season in between full of humidity and bugs. With all these different seasons taking place, there are also different road conditions. The only ‘good’ road conditions are found when Maine is in its short summer season. During the preparation for, during, and after effects of the winter season, there can be wicked nasty road conditions. They either have black ice, snow, slush, or are flooded.

                Black ice is something that only a true Nor’ Easter knows all too well. For almost the whole winter period, there is black ice somewhere on the roads. It is a thin sheet of ice on the paved road. You don’t see it until it is too late. Most people can drive over it safely, depending on the location in regards to the road. However, if the ice is on a corner, the driver is in danger. When you drive on Maine road conditions, you learn to drive slowly. If someone hits a patch of black ice on a corner and didn’t slow down enough, they will almost certainly slide either off the road, or into another vehicle. Many, many accidents happen in Maine because of black ice. Unfortunately, sometimes driving slow over black ice isn’t enough, especially on a hill. In most of these cases, the vehicle slides down the hill and no amount of force from the brakes will stop it. The people in the vehicle can only hope for the best.

When snow is added to the picture, it can make things much worse. When there is a layer of snow on top of ice, it makes the ice even slicker. The snow adds a layer of wetness to the ice, and once a tire, or person, hits that patch, they are in trouble. I cannot tell you how many times I have slipped and fell because of snow on ice. I also couldn’t count the amount of times I have been stuck in my driveway because my tires had no traction with the snow and ice covering everything. When road conditions are like this, schools get cancelled, appointments get cancelled, people are sent home from work, and everything is just put on hold for the time being. Plow trucks hurry to get the roads plowed and sanded; however, they have to just do it again about an hour later, depending on how fast the snow is falling.

When it rains during these horrible winter seasons, it makes the roads just all in all, shitty. It is almost like the consistency of thin mud, except it is really, really, wet snow. It gets all over the roads. When it is still raining, or right after it rains, it is clean, but slick. It isn’t icy, but slush can still pull your vehicle one way or the other. After a day or two, the slush is completely covered in mud and dirt. This is when things get really messy. When someone drives over slush, it sprays everywhere. I have been hit by slush so many times when I was a kid waiting for the bus at the end of my driveway. When dirt is added to the slush, there will never be a clean vehicle for the rest of the season.

Finally, there are the flooded roads. This is a huge factor in the aftermath of winter. When the temperature begins to warm up, everything melts! This causes massive flooding in some areas. Backyards get flooded, driveways get flooded, ditches get flooded, rivers overflow, and roads get covered with the flood water. The flooding is also the beginning of the mud season. Now that I have a Jeep, I can drive over flooded roads. Before, I had a smaller car and I would be forced to turn around. A lot of the times, the D.O.T. will block off roads if the flooding is too bad. This makes things very inconvenient when you have to get somewhere. Also with flooding, comes hydroplaning. Hydroplaning can be very scary if you are not paying attention. A sudden wrong move can cause you to be in an accident.

Most states have a spring, summer, fall, and winter season. However, that is not how I, and most others, think of Maine. Fall is translated into: yard work, storing things away, insulating any possible heat loss areas, and preparing a cord of wood. Winter is translated into: snow tires, loss of money to rising oil prices, tardiness to work or school, and power outages. Spring becomes: still having snow, mud, flooding, mud, washing floors, and more mud. Finally, there is summer. This correlates to having humidity and lots of black flies. However, this it’s worth it to be away from the horrendous winter seasons and the nasty road conditions. Driving on slick ice, snow, slush, and flooded roads is not my cup of tea, especially with since I have a baby with me now. Now I understand why everyone leaves Maine in the winter! 

Essay #8 (Effect Essay)

                The day had finally arrived. I, along with everyone else in my class, had been waiting four long years for this. Excitement overwhelmed us as we each took to our positions. When the cadence began, a flood of anxiety flooded the room. Slowly, we each marched with our partner down the aisle and to our seats.  It was a long 80 minutes, but as the ceremony finally came to a close, we heard the words we had been longing to here: “Congratulations, Class of 2012 graduates!” That was my high school graduation. I remember it being hot and uncomfortable – but then again, I was eight and a half months pregnant, too. Since my graduation, I have noticed a big change in myself. I look at life a very differently, now. I have become the adult that I need to be for my child. I have become more insightful, more responsible, and more independent.

                Graduation was a big step in my life. Since being out of school, I have become more insightful about whom my friends are and the decisions I make. High school forced everyone to be together, including my ‘friends’. I was led to believe that I had a large amount of friends in high school. However, now that we are no longer forced to be in the same building, I have been shown who my true friends are. Also, since becoming a mother and wife, I make wiser decisions for my, son’s, husband’s, and my life. All of my decisions have to play along with them as well; I can no longer just make decisions for only myself. That is the biggest reason as to why I have a limited number of friends, now. The others don’t understand what it is like to be a parent.

                Responsibility is also a big change that consumed me since graduation. Since becoming a legal adult, I am now taking responsibility of my medical forms, paperwork, and any other legal document. I have to say, there is a lot more to being an adult then what I was led to believe! Nobody said that being an adult was going to be easy, though. Also as a parent, I am taking responsibility for Sirus’s legal documents, as well. As a wife, and a military dependent, there are a lot more forms and responsibilities that I have to deal with. It is all worth it in the end, though! I am slowly making my way into the world of financial stability. I have had a debit card since I turned 18, and had a bank account since I started my job when I was 16, but I am new to the checks, bills, insurance costs, registrations, balancing checkbooks, and taking more responsibility with what I buy. I had always tried to save my money, but now it is more important.

                Lastly, since graduation, I have become extremely independent. I was already pretty independent before-hand, but now it’s grown. I am currently living with my father until my husband gets permanently stationed somewhere and Sirus and I can move with him. It feels weird to be able to do whatever I want, when I want, and how I want without my father’s consent. I am buying things, selling things, taking care of Sirus and myself financially. I take visits, go to appointments, and take vacations! On the 19^th, I go to Florida to be with my husband, Kevin, for Thanksgiving! I bought my plane tickets and hotel reservations online. Doing that made me feel even more like an adult!

                Graduation; it gives the biggest impact on most people. It helps change people into who they should be. It helps them head in the right direction. Graduation probably has the biggest effect on a young person’s life. I know it had a significant impact on my life. It forced me to make more responsible and independent decisions for myself. Getting married and becoming a parent also made me grow up quicker than most people my age. I am now more insightful on what I do in life and who my friends are. I am also more responsible for my actions and my family’s, and more independent. After all that is said and done, I am successfully a legal adult with big responsibilities, and I’m ready to take on the world!

Essay #7 (Process Essay)

               My whole life I had been trying to find the right path to take. Should I go this way, or should I go that way? My life was full of so many twists and turns; it was confusing and I got lost often. I didn’t feel comfortable with the way I was driving through life. Realization finally struck me and I quickly gained control of my life and made a change. Some of those changes were good, some were bad. Life became bumpy along the way and I was left wondering if I made the right decisions. It’s been said that things get worse before they get better. Well, after getting through the rough patch, those situations led me to who I am today – a new mother, college student, and a wife.

                Senior year is the year of self-actualization. It’s a time to realize who your true friends are and where you are going in life. It is also a time to have fun with your friends while you can. However, during my senior year, I was pregnant. Unlike most pregnant girls in high school, I took control of my life and figured out where I was going, how to get there, and what to do next. All I did was look forward into the future. I wanted to do what would be best for me and my unborn child. I saved up money from my job, I graduated with all A’s and, I was (and still am) with the dad. I proved to everyone that I wasn’t a stereotypical pregnant teenage girl.

                College; the one thing people tried to get me to wait on. After graduating and having a baby, people didn’t think I could handle being a full time mother and a full time student. I started to question it myself, but I wasn’t going to let anything slow my life down. I was going to go in, all or nothing. I made it easier on myself, and for Sirus, by taking online classes. College was going to get me to where I want to be in life. I needed to prove to myself that I could handle the work with a newborn baby.

                Finally, on October 11, 2012, I married my best friend, a United States Marine. Although he had plans to go in before I got pregnant, he stuck with it for the baby. We wanted to make sure that the future would be bright for our little bundle of joy. On top of that, we will be traveling, cared for, and doing a part for our country. I finally had the feeling that I took the right path in my life. I joined my husband and son with sharing the name Ricker.

                After graduating, having a baby, getting into college, and becoming a wife, I realized that it doesn’t matter how I got to where I am. All that matters is who and what is there. I am a mother to the most incredible baby boy, married to the most amazing man and father of my son, and a full time college student. Everyone’s life can look like a road. Some are full of twists and turns, some are full ups and downs, and others are like a road in the desert; straight and boring. Life is meant to be anything but ordinary. The only way to reach that is to take the road less traveled on. I took a path not knowing where I would end up, and I don’t regret it for the world! In the words of Rascal Flatts, ‘Bless the Broken Road’.

Process Essay Intro

               My whole life I had been trying to find the right path to take. Should I go this way, or should I go that way? My life was full of so many twists and turns; it was confusing and I got lost often. I didn’t feel comfortable with the way I was driving through life. Realization finally struck me and I quickly gained control of my life and made a change. Some of those changes were good, some were bad. Life became bumpy along the way and I was left wondering if I made the right decisions. Its been said that things get worse before they get better. Well, after getting through the rough patch, those situations led me to who I am today – a new mother, wife, and college student.

Revised Timed Effect Essay

                When I was in 8^th grade, I had a lot of family struggles that I was dealing with. I couldn’t connect with anyone and I felt lost in the world. The friends I had didn’t know what to do or what to say. Dashiell, however, did. She was a girl in my class and she was the most happy-go-lucky person I have ever met. She picked up on my distress and immediately took me in and we became instant friends. Over the next couple years we grew closer and closer. We were like sisters – everyone knew that if they saw one, the other one was close by. We did everything together. That was until her parents got a divorce and she moved out of state. As soon as she moved, she stepped onto the highway of self-destruction; and following that was the loss of my trust, distancing of our friendship, and her damaging decisions.

                The first stop she reached on her highway to Hell was the loss of my trust. Since she moved to Arizona and New Mexico, I was very worried that she was going to get into bad drugs. She promised me that she wouldn’t. However, that promise didn’t stay long. She felt guilty about it, and so avoided telling me what was really going on down there. When she first told me, I gave her a second chance; but, it became a long road of lies and broken promises.

                Since I could no longer trust her, we became distant. She knew it, and I knew it. We talked maybe about once every three or four months. I didn’t know anything about her anymore. She became someone totally different then who I remembered. I tried to help, but nothing worked. She was wrapped around the finger of the drug world and couldn’t escape. It was then that I realized that she was on the fast track to ruining her life, and all I could do was sit and watch.

                Finally, she reached the one place I hoped she would never see. She hit rock bottom in her life. She dropped out of high school, quit her job, ran away from home, and started couch hopping. Nobody knew where she was most of the time. Her family members would call me to see if I had heard from her – which I never did. Doping, drinking, and getting caught by the cops were practically everything she did. I lost my best friend. All I could do was just think of the good times and move on with life.

                Her parent’s divorce caused devastating effects to Dashiell’s life. Those effects caused me to lose my trust in her, shatter our friendship, and caused her to make horrible decisions for her life. Somehow, somewhere, she managed to get away from the drug world. She is now sober and in Maine where she should be. Our friendship is starting to revive, and hopefully, she will make better decisions for herself. I can now hopefully say that she is no longer on the path to self-destruction, but instead headed towards the road to success.

Timed Effect Essay

                My whole life I had been trying to find the right path to take. Should I veer this way, or should I veer that way? I needed to find the path that would make my family happy. The road of my life was full of twists and turns; it was confusing and I got lost often. I felt like an American driver in England. I didn’t feel comfortable with the way I was driving through life. Realization finally struck me and I quickly gained control of my life and took a turn, hoping for better. The road became broken along the way, but eventually it led me somewhere where I never thought I would end up; being pregnant in high school, a college student, and a Marine wife.

                Senior year is the year of self-actualization. It’s a time to realize who your true friends are and where you are going in life. It is also a time to have fun with your friends while you can. During my senior year, I was pregnant. However, unlike most pregnant girls in high school, I took control of my life and figured out where I was going, how to get there, and what to do next. I was (and still am) with the dad, I was getting all A’s, and I kept a job to save up money. I proved to everyone that I wasn’t a stereotypical pregnant teenage girl.

                College; the one thing people tried to get me to wait on. After having a baby, people didn’t think I could handle being a full time mother and a full time student. I started to question it myself, but I wasn’t going to let anything slow my life down. I was going to go in, all or nothing. I made it easier on myself, and for Sirus, by taking online classes. Although it can be challenging at times when Sirus isn’t sleeping and I need to get some work done. Fortunately, my family has been supportive and helpful during this time in my life. I am so grateful.

                On October 11, 2012, I married my best friend, a United States Marine. Although he had plans to go in before I got pregnant, he stuck with it for the baby. We wanted to make sure that the future would be bright for our little bundle of joy. On top of that, we will be traveling, cared for, and doing a part for our country. I finally had the feeling that I took the right path in my life. I’m always up on cloud nine when I see my engagement and wedding ring on my left hand and my new USMC ring on my right hand.

                Finally, the road of my life began to get scenic. It was a time in my life where I realized that it wasn’t the condition of the road that mattered; it was the scene around it. It doesn’t matter how I got to where I am. All that matters is what is there. I am a mother to the most incredible baby boy, married to the most amazing man and father of my son, and a full time college student. Everyone’s life can look like a road. Some are full of twists and turns, some are full ups and downs, and others are like a road in the desert; straight and boring. Life is meant to be anything but ordinary. The only way to reach that is to take the road less traveled on. I took a path not knowing where I would end up, and I don’t regret it for the world! In the words of Rascal Flatts, ‘Bless the Broken Road’.

Example Essay

                We all hunkered down in the woods around the fire while we watched the flags. The air was bitter cold. We were all bundled up in our thickest attire, but still unprepared for the torturous weather. It was negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit, without counting the treacherous wind. That wind roar across the lake as it spit snow in our faces – daring us to walk out onto the lake. We had gone too far to turn around now. We were out here for one thing, and one thing only: fish. Once we saw a flag shoot up into the air, we ran out for our catch before the wind claimed us. Ice fishing is another outdoor activity that I love to do. Although the weather can really take a toll on you, in the end, it’s all worth it. This was one of many examples of an ice fishing story worth bragging about. Here are just a few more I would like to share. 

                One of my favorite, close-by, places to fish is at Branns Mills Pond in the Garland and Dover-Foxcroft area. It is full of small mouth bass, brook trout, pickerel, and perch. This one time that we went fishing, after we set up our traps, we went and had our fun on our four wheeler. Since we were usually the only ones out there at the time, we would start zipping up and down the lake doing donuts and skidding across the ice. Once a flag went up, we ran over to the trap, took it out, and pulled and pulled on the line. At the end of the day, we caught four small mouth bass and two brook trouts. We could only keep two, so we kept the trouts.

                Another place I loved to go fishing is this lake up near Island Falls. Island Falls is an amazing place to go during the winter; it’s where Maine got its nickname ‘Vacationland’. During this one year we went up and visited Island Falls, we spent the day at this lake. We found a cove and constructed a fire up on land. While we watched the flags, we would just sit around the fire telling stories and cooking hotdogs on sticks. All of a sudden… BAM, BAM, BAM! The flags started shooting up nearly all at the same time. Each one of us had to quickly handle one trap and then move on to another before the fish got off the hook. I ended up catching the biggest fish of the bunch. It was a 25 inch long pickerel.

                My favorite trip was the one that I mentioned earlier. It was out to Spider Lake. It took us nearly three and a half hours driving just on the back roads to the lake! A bunch of us went and rented out a lodge. The weather that year was brutal! I was just a kid, and so the weather got too much for me and I had to go back to the lodge while the other continued fishing. However, I was able to make it out at least half the time. The trip was well worth it, though. We caught a lot a fish and some pretty good sized ones, as well. It was always a treat to get back to that woodstove in the lodge and fry up some amazing fish.

                Branns Mills Pond, Spider Lake, and Island Falls are three of my top favorite places to fish at. They all have their own special memories that I will always cherish. It was always fun as a kid to finally go home and brag to my mom about the size of the fish I caught. My stepfather, at the time, would always call me the Fish Slayer – it made me feel special. There was always something about hunkering down in the woods watching over the lake that felt homely. As long as my family was with me, everything felt right.

Example Essay Intro (Revised)

               We all hunkered down in the woods around the fire while we watched the flags. The air was bitter cold. We were all bundled up in our thickest attire, but still unprepared for the torturous weather. It was negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit, without counting the treacherous wind. That wind roar across the lake as it spit snow in our faces – daring us to walk out onto the lake. We had gone too far to turn around now. We were out here for one thing, and one thing only: fish. Once we saw a flag shoot up into the air, we ran out for our catch before the wind claimed us. Ice fishing is another outdoor activity that I love to do. Although the weather can really take a toll on you, in the end, it’s all worth it. This was one of many examples of an ice fishing story worth bragging about. Here are just a few more I would like to share.