It's my first college essay and I really wanna get an A, lol.
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B.M.W.
Writing and Rhetoric I
January 20, 2007
North Carolina captured the younger years of my life, when I was free to roam and do as I please without a care in the world. Our home was lodged in the back of a cul-de-sac, surrounded by magical woods. My friends and I would journey into the sea of woods and transform our setting into somewhere or something else. We could be wizards with pet dragons, heroes with extraordinary powers, or knights protecting a fortress.
The ever-changing scene was beautiful. The spring brought bright green leaves that flooded the tops of the trees and spectacular sunny days. The mornings were filled with the songs of early birds singing. During the day, woodpeckers hammered against the bark with a peaceful rhythm.
When winter arrived, a blanket of white snow covered the trees and ground.
But there was something about the fall that made it the best season of all. Nature’s floor was covered with orange, yellow and red. When the celestial, whistling wind hit my face, I felt calm and relaxed. Something in the air smelt different, that I can still recall to this day, when fall comes around. The nostalgic smell fills me with endless memories of those woods and my friends. I remember wandering around the woods, building “castles” out of pine -needles. We’d pile the pine-needles to the side and make them into “walls.” The walls were short and thick, but our imagination allowed us to view them as enormous and mighty. We would ally ourselves with one another, as if we were in a war, and we’d pretend to fight against each other with pinecones and sticks. My parents weren’t too pleased when they saw what we did to their properety. The woods happened to be rooted with poison ivy, and all of us got rashes. My dad ended up resetting the pine needles, with gloves on, of course. Despite the itching and burning, the experience was one I never regretted.
Today, I no longer have the luxury of frolicking around in the woods with my friends. Today, I live in Ohio where my yard is scare and barely any trees can be seen. Today, I have responsibilities to take care of and work to complete. Today, my old friends are gone, and new friends have replaced them. These new friends have no desire to run around in the autumn wind. Nor do I have any desire to fulfill these old dreams.
My life is now filled with complex tasks and constant stress. I must maintain my grades, finish my reports, and complete my homework. At times, I feel like I’m trapped in a constant vortex of work. I still have my free time, but not as much as I did back when I was in North Carolina. These new expectations of me are at the same time blissful and burdensome.
My free time is essentially spent different today than it was long ago. Instead of wandering the woods making up fairy tales, I often enjoy scribbling in a notebook. I write fiction stories that involve mystery or horror. I may not be outside experiencing my random adventures, but my unique imagination surely lives on in my stories.
Other than writing, I still enjoy hanging out with friends. We enjoy watching movies, playing card games or playing video games. Things are different now that I live
in Ohio.
Burdens also come with my transformation into adulthood. I must go to work four or five times a week in order to obtain money which I will store away for future finances. The long hours can be cruel and often boring. At school, I must achieve perfection on every homework grade and I’m required to study for every test. Any score below an A makes me wince and feel as if I’ve failed horribly, because I know I can do better. Stress, something I never expereiced as a child in the innocent woods of North Carolina, begins to take its toll. But I learn to adapt and work through the constant obstacles. I begin to learn what it means to be an adult.
While these expectations can be overly demanding at times, at least I have control over my life now. I feel as if I am personally carving my future. I’m creating my very own “walls of pine-needles”. It feels amazing to say “I now control my life.” I’m no longer confined and babied by my parents to the extent I was back then. My life is now in my hands.
Thou my experiences in North Carolina were fun and adventurous, part of life is growing up and maturing. Ohio, although just a state, has become more to me. It’s a landmark, a place where I’ve transformed and progressed in my life. When everything comes to an end, it’s the journey and the process of change that makes it all worth while and wonderful.
Gender:
Points: 890
Reviews: 29