Reading and Writing

Ever since I was a little girl, I always wanted to be just like my mom. She read books constantly, listened to cassette tapes of books in the car when she would pick me up from school, wrote journal entries in her notebooks, and enjoyed the literacy. I can recall always taking trips to the library and exploring the books there with my mom, even when I was just learning how to read. She read me bedtime stories every night. Throughout experiences in school and at home, I have found a love for writing and reading. Writing is especially my favorite because it allows my creativity to run wild and speak even when I do not know what to say. It has also helped me through rough times and even to sort out my thoughts, life events, and even goals. I encourage everyone around me to pick up a notebook and start writing if they are feeling down.

When I was in Kindergarten, I really loved homework. It was so exciting to me to get to do school at home. I loved practicing my letters over and over along with all the fun crafts we would do that went along with whatever we were learning that week. Sesame Street taught me my ABCs very early on. What kid didn’t like that show? Shortly after that, I would “play” and have school with my little brother. Of course, I was the teacher. He was four years younger than me. I pretended to teach him the things that I learned at school, but he really did learn. In fact, I taught him his ABC’s. I tried to keep teaching him things until he got to the age where he would rather watch Scooby Doo than write his name on paper. 

Two years later, I was in 2nd Grade and was diving into the world of writing in my class. I was in Whitehouse Elementary School and learned so many things just in that year of writing workshops and developing stories. My stories may have been about silly things and animals, but this is the year that I found a true love for writing. I’ve always typically been a very shy and reserved child, but writing opened up a new world for me. I wasn’t good at math and I knew it, but I felt like I got the hang of this whole “writing thing”. It was a big deal when it came time to take our TAKS test and get our scores back from our Reading and Writing test. However, I valued writing so much I practiced often. I remember getting our scores in and I got one of the highest scores in the class. It was a great moment! The year after that, we continued our writing skills even more, but incorporated writing with some of the other subjects from time to time. It was my favorite when we would do writing and history together.

In a two-week session, we made homemade candles, learned how to make paper and made a notebook with the paper, and then we constructed an old timey wagon like the settlers used to use in the old days with paper. When we were finally done with all our projects, we had a special writing time. The teacher gave everyone the candle we made on our desk and it set right next to notebook we made. She lit everyone’s candle on their desk, turned out the main light, and we began writing in our notebooks that we made. We wrote about what it would be like to live in the days of the settlers. It was interesting because in history we were also learning about the same thing and that period. It was the most memorable experience.

A year later, in my fourth-grade class, we wrote a story of our own and even had the opportunity to illustrate and publish our very own book. This was so much fun! It allowed us to be creative and have fun with writing and even doing our own art to go along with the story. It is just like a real book, too. There is a picture of me that says “Grace Nicole Young” as the author along with the year it was published. I still have the book on my shelf hoping it will inspire me to someday publish and illustrate a children’s short story. 

As teenagers go through crazy moments in his or her life, everything will seem surreal. Suddenly, puberty happens, and everything changes for girls and guys. It’s that weird age where one’s body goes through changes and emotions feel stronger than ever, well at least for girls. It’s the moment you get your first kiss, have your first break up, find your group of friends to hang with, and you truly aim to “find yourself”. When I was this age, my parents didn’t let me have a Myspace page just yet, so I stuck to my old fashion notebooks for letting my thoughts out there. I wrote about everything through these awkward ages. Going through my journal entries from when I was that young, I can read about all the life events that happened in those notebooks. I always dated every page I wrote in for records purposes.

 In 7th grade, I had a list of the boys I had crushes on, who my best friends were, and all my teachers I had that year. That summer, my parents told me we were moving a few hours away. I read the journal entry I wrote for that day and I had so many emotions going on and was so upset because I thought I would never make friends again and how scared I was to move to a new school(again). As I read half a year later in my diary, I read how I made so many new friends at my new school, how I was able to get in band since it was such a small school versus the 4A school I came from, and that I loved the country so much instead of the city. Reading my writing from the past helps me remember the old days and understand the present.

I recorded a lot of my life on paper because I knew someday I would like to revisit these memories and share them with my kids someday, well maybe not all of them. I’ve always liked writing if it’s a journal, a short story, my personal goals, my finances, or personal experiences that give advice. My mom keeps a journal as well and does the same thing that I do. Writing from when I was little has taught me to write about important moments of my life; even if they’re not always great moments. I aspire to someday take writing to a whole new level with writing more than just a blog and teach kids to love writing as much if not more than I do.