ASSIGNMENTS:
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Heather C.
Berkeley, California USA
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REPORTS:
PREVIOUS NEXT
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When I was born one month late I had long fingernails. As a baby I used to play peek-a-boo with a ghost that made loud foot steps, slammed doors, and moved lamps. My parents were disturbed about this and decided to move with my older sister and me. Our new house did not have any ghosts except a soldier that walked sentry around my bed some nights.
When I was little I liked to slide on the hardwood floors with my sister and make up adventures for my dolls. My dad was a math teacher who was also a talented magician. My mom studied psychology and read books to me. I despised preschool and kindergarten because they forced me to drink milk, and I was always confused about why I was there and what I was supposed to be doing. One time I decided to jump off of the see-saw to watch the other person slam to the ground. Unfortunately for me, I chose to do this when a teacher was watching nearby. Perhaps that incident should have alerted my parents to the fact that I had extremely poor vision but I did not get diagnosed until second grade. During kindergarten I had a crush on the same boy that everyone else had a crush on. I was shy and didn't want anybody to know that I liked him though, so I decided the best way to keep my secret was for me to chase the least popular boy in class who wore big black glasses. One day I was horrified when I accidentally caught him and knocked him to the grass; I let him go and began chasing him again.
I met my best friend in the third grade; when she walked in the door it was like at first sight. I was hit in the face by the tetherball on a daily basis, liked disco music, and wanted to be a private detective when I grew up (thanks in part to the TV show "Charlie's Angels" and in part to the book Harriet the Spy). I used to protect a developmentally disabled boy during recess, along with a boy in my class, but it never occurred to me to continue playing with him after I'd chased bullies away from him. I regret that I was not a better friend to him. I was also kicked off of traffic patrol (as a crossing guard) in the fifth grade because I would pass out whenever the diesel buses drove past. For the most part, my elementary school years were good due to kind and funny teachers and due to having a friend.
Junior high was a lonely time for me but I was on the honor roll consistently because I hardly had a social life and spent a lot of time studying.
High school was better socially because I got contact lenses and was allowed to wear make-up. I made my second true friend in tenth grade, and I am still close friends with both of my school friends. Right after tenth grade my beloved sister was killed because she had been riding in a car that got into a wreck and she was not wearing a seatbelt, which was probably the only time she had not worn one. I was devastated and didn't care about anything, including school. I ended up dropping out of high-school at age seventeen.
By the time I was twenty-two years old, I was married, had a three year old son, a newborn son, and a four year old step-daughter. I worked part-time and went to community college for the next fourteen years! I divorced, re-married, honeymooned in Paris, and had my third son at age thirty-two. My oldest son is developmentally delayed and legally blind & is responsible and kind. My middle son has type-1 diabetes and is creative and funny. My youngest son has speech difficulties and is generous and funny. At age thirty-four I was admitted to University of California, Berkeley.
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