What have you and your family accomplished together?

            As a family, we have accomplished quite a bit. One of the biggest things we have done is expand the family by rescuing animals. We currently have three dogs and a cat, and they are as much a part of the family as me or my parents.

            When I was six, we lost the family dog Alex, and I was heartbroken. So, my dad decided to start taking me to the humane society. We would go every now and then to walk the dogs. I loved helping out, and I loved the dogs, so this was clearly a good thing for me to do. While we were on one of these visits, my dad saw a dog that he thought we would like.

            She was almost a year old, and in terrible condition. She had been taken away from her previous owner due to his poor treatment of her. She was thin and needed a lot of attention. She was a border collie/german shepherd mix and is one of the pretest dogs I’ve ever seen. While my parents debated whether or not to get her, I knew we had to. I am the one that caused us to get Sarah, and she is still my dog. Thanks to us, she has recovered fully and is both healthy and happy.

            After a year of having Sarah, my dad was in Springfield. He was visiting his parents when he decided to check the pound. My mom wanted a small dog that would be safer with my little sister, so she was slightly upset that we got Sarah. While Sarah was very careful, she was much bigger than Katie and would sometimes knock her over. So, my dad went looking at the pound in Springfield. While he was there he saw a litter of puppies. He knew that they would be euthanized if no one adopted them, and the runt of the litter was still there, and it didn’t have a family coming to get it. So he got her. He brought her home in mid-February as a Valentine’s Day gift for my mom. My mom named her pepper because of her spots. She has grown up a healthy and happy dog, and I’m glad we saved her.

            The dog we saved most recently came a few years after we got pepper. One day, we just found him in our yard. We didn’t know how he got there, but we knew we had to find his owners. While we waited for his owners to come, we took good care of him. Maybe too good of care. On many different occasions he would turn up in our yard. Eventually his family said they couldn’t keep him. Before they took him to the shelter they offered him to us, and we gladly accepted. We finally figured out how he was getting in and out of our yard after he kept running away from us. He would dig under our fence slightly, and squeeze through, because he is fairly small. Thankfully, we recognized this and have prevented him from escaping in the future.

            All in all, my family has done quite a bit for our pets. Although they all had very different backgrounds, they all needed help. We were glad to help them, and we now have a very happy family.

What objects tell the story of your life?

            Everyone does certain activities that make them who they are. Each of these activities can usually be represented by a certain object. Using this technique, I will describe my life to you.

            The first object is my music player. It could be my old CD player, my ipod, or now my phone: they all do the job well. Most of my life I have been listening to a lot of music. I used to have a lot of CDs, and I would play them all the time in my room. As I got older my parents got me an ipod. This made my music portable, and it made me very happy. Then, because I took care of my ipod instead of my phone, my parents got me an iphone. Now my music is on my phone, so now I actually take my phone with me everywhere, instead of just my ipod. I can honestly say that music has helped me to get through some tough times in my life, and that every day I listen to at least an hour of music. In fact, I’m listening to music as I write this! With all this use, it’s no wonder my music is so important to me.

            The second object is my Tilley Hat. I got my first Tilley Hat when I was eight, and it was such a good hat I had to get a replacement when I outgrew it. The hat is a wide-brimmed green hat that I got for camping. Ever since I got it, I have worn it at nearly every outdoors activity I’ve been in. At this point it seems as though the hat is a part of my outdoors persona, and all the outdoors activities I do make it seem like an important part of who I am.

            The third object is my OA sash. The Order of the Arrow (OA) is the national horon society for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). I am a member of our local lodge, and am a member of the lodge board, meaning I am partially in charge of our lodge. The sash is a symbol of membership, and we wear it to events to show who we are. The OA has helped me learn many things, but most importantly it has taught me leadership skills. On top of that, I have done many service projects through the OA. Because we are a “Brotherhood of Cheerful Service,” it is our duty to help those who need it if we are able. We volunteer at different events and with different groups around the area. Through all this the OA has helped me become a better person, which is why it is an important part of who I am.

            The fourth object is a stage. Theater has been a big part of becoming who I am. Believe it or not, I was an extremely shy kid for much of my life. I was terrified of speaking. I couldn’t speak to people I didn’t know, I couldn’t speak in front of the class, and I definitely couldn’t act on a stage. After working at it for a while, I started to break out of my shell. When I got into Uni and knew that I was the only one from my school, I recognized that I would need to stop being so shy to make friends. As a big test, I decided to try out for the school play that fall. Through interacting with some of the upperclassmen, I learned to enjoy acting. This allowed me to be more outspoken and really embrace the idea of theater. While I had already gotten better, theater really helped me open up to the world.

            I could certainly write more, as there are many more aspects to my life. However, I am contempt to say that these are the four main things needed to describe me.