Excerpts From My 6th Grade Journal

I found this treasure while cleaning out the desk in preparation for our move. I was laughing out loud and waxing a little nostalgic was I read it by myself in the apartment today. Here's some of the best lines . . .

Learning to water ski . . .

"The first time I water skied I felt like I was flying almost. It took me about three times to get up...When I got up and the water sprayed in my face, I looked around and enjoyed the view. I forgot about all my worries. My mom yelled out to me that I was going to ski to our beach so my dad could see me. Everyone was putting thumbs up to me. I blew some kisses. My hands started to ache. But I had to make it to the beach to show my dad. Finally, we arrived at the beach. I smiled so wide it was probably the width of the lake. I was so proud. And I learned not to be afraid of trying new things."

My happiest moments . . .

"I love spending time with my family. And one of the happiest times in my life was with my family. It was fall and my family and I were playing in the leaves and burying each other. I just remember thinking that I didn't want that evening to end."

Monsters 'n things . . .

"I don't believe in the Loch Ness monster. But Bigfoot is a little more believable. I mean, people have "seen" Bigfoot. And the Loch Ness monster, well, if it lives in a lake then it would take up a big portion of the lake since it's so huge, and yet not one has really seen it. And the Abominable Snowman, how could I really know if he was real or not unless I talked to someone who had claimed to have seen him. And then determine whether that was really telling the truth, or that they had just lost their marbles."

Snow day . . .

"Yesterday morning, my sister woke me up and told me that she heard that we didn't go to school that day twice on the radio. I was so happy. I mean, it hardly ever snows here let alone enough to close school for a whole day. Well, I didn't waste this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. In our backyard we have this huge hill. We also have some tubes. See the connection? Oh yeah! We slid down the hill to our heart's content. Then we tied tubes to the back of our 4-wheeler with rope. My dad took us all around our driveway and in my front yard."

Odd ball . . .

"A lot of times, I feel like I'm the odd ball. But that's probably what everyone else thinks too about themselves. When I was about 9 years old, I would never eat treats and never watch T.V. So, of course, every day after school my sisters would all go down and catch their favorite show. Well I'll tell ya I should have enjoyed cable while I could, 'cause my dad got rid of it."

Take-your-daughter-to-work day . . .

"Yesterday there were two holidays. There was Earth Day and Bring Your Daughter to Work Day. So, my dad took my older sister and I to his work at Holy Rosary Medical Center. He works in the E.R. And no, I didn't see anything too extreme or gross. When we first got there it wasn't really busy. There was only one patient, an old lady of 81 years old. She had high blood pressure. We had a little time, so we ate the dinner we had brought. After that we saw a man who got some really bad chemical in his eye. We got to look into a telescope and see his eye close up and see where the burn was. During our visit we were able to learn how to read the charts that the nurses made on the patient. So the next patient, a little boy of 5, I got to read his chart. He had cut his top teeth all across the top gum. I felt sad for him. But the good thing was, his prescription was popsicles!

Our Delilah . . .

"I have quite a lot of pets. I have six horses; one really old one, two mothers with babies, and another wild one that my grandpa gave to us. We have 5 cows; one in the freezer, two black little ones, and a mama that just won't deliver. I think she's going to pop! Poor thing. We also have 3 nasty little goats that are fat and they eat and sleep, eat and sleep...We have 3 cats and one bird. Then we have a pet who is truly a part of the family. More than any of the others. She traveled with us from Michigan to Idaho. She is getting old and tired now, but we still love to pet her soft ears. She's our dog Delilah."