sharing memories

Last year my sisters and I each wrote a story about our childhood and we read our stories out loud at our Christmas gathering. We kept what we wrote a secret and when the stories were read, we had many fits of laughter as we heard stories that we had long forgotten about. We put the stories in a binder and we said that we would do this every year. My boys love reading the stories and they think that it is great to hear stories of their aunts and mom when they were young. (not that long ago:)

Here is my story. It is kind of embarassing so I wrote it in the third person hoping that it wouldn't be so painful when I read it.

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It was a very bad week for 11 year old Kerri. At least when she thinks back to it – all of these horrible occurrences happened in a week’s time frame. “Life” was not going good for her. She had done some impulsive things toward her sister who was two years her junior. These impulsive acts had gotten Kerri into big trouble. It started with the vacuum cleaner – and the beater bar. Kerri was vacuuming the family room with this powerful machine when poor, unsuspecting Rachel walked by. As the oldest, Kerri was sure that she had to do more jobs than her other sisters and as innocent Rachel made a skip over the vacuum cleaner, rage built up in Kerri. She took the vacuum cleaner and started to chase Rachel with it. Rachel ended up on the couch defending herself with her kicking legs, but those thin little legs were no match for the big powerful beater-bar. The beater-bar landed on Rachel’s head with a thud. She let out a scream that could stop a heart from beating . Kerri, realizing the horribleness of what she had just done, tried to lift the beater bar off of Rachel’s head only to have the bar lift up taking Rachel’s lovely red hair with it. The seconds seemed to stretch on until someone hurriedly unplugged the very powerful beater-bar. Rachel laid there crying in pain, and Kerri started crying too when she saw clumps of red hair twisted in the bar. Yes, Kerri was in trouble.

Not soon after, Rachel and Kerri were skipping in the kitchen. There must have been lots of freedom in that household because not too many mothers would allow their daughters to skip right where they are working.  Anyways, Rachel did something to irritate Kerri again. It was probably not a big deal, but Kerri took that pink skipping rope and hit Rachel across the back with it, except the hit became more like a whip…Rachel again cried out in agony and ran to show their mom the inflamed welt across her back. Kerri was in trouble.

Not soon after, the girls were out at the end of the driveway waiting for the school bus. Snow lay as a blanket along the orchard trees across the street. The snow was piled high in the deep ditch so that it looked like you could walk right across it. That is when Kerri got another terrible idea. Kerri saw poor, unsuspecting Rachel swinging her backpack around and talking to herself – probably going over the multiplication facts- and decided to let Rachel have it. Kerri slowly walked up to Rachel and gave her a good shove right into the ditch. Watching Rachel’s look of shock spread across her face was very satisfying for Kerri until she heard a familiar noise. She looked down the road and saw a flash of yellow. The school bus was on its way. Kerri frantically tried to pull Rachel out of the ditch. Rachel managed to stumble out, but she was dripping wet! She was furious at Kerri and went stomping back to the house. Kerri desperately tried to get Rachel to turn around and go on the bus no matter how wet and cold she was because after all she would dry off, eventually. Rachel would hear no part of it. Kerri slowly stepped onto the bus with a despairing, sick, feeling. Her father would have to drive Rachel to school and again Kerri was in trouble.

Now for the moral of these stories. Kids, no matter what your brothers are doing to you, do not get so easily irritated. If you feel like you are having a hard time at school, or with your friends talk about it. Do not let it fester inside of you so that you take your frustrations out on someone else. These will only hurt someone else and cause you to get into trouble. And here is another lesson. This one is for the mothers who have days when they think that their children are either going to ruin themselves or each other with their destructive behavior. Kerri and Rachel’s mother got through those days and you will too AND Kerri and Rachel didn’t turn out too bad either!