Flashback Week!!!!

When I was home in Buckhannon a few weeks ago I went through my old closet at my parent's house and for some random reason decided to bring a box full 'o crap back with me to DC . Once I got back to DC and started looking through the box full o' crap I realized that I had stumbled upon some of the most awesome crap EVER!

First of all let me give you all a short list of the other fun items I found and yet decided not to bring back with me. This may give you a better idea about how much of a total dork I really am.

• Cheerleading jacket from freshman year. Go BUCS!!!
  
• My key chain collection. It's six feet long.
  
• Karate gi. Not from my dad's school, but from Master Kim's Tai Kwan Do in Huntington.
  
• Old collection of baseball cards, complete with Michael Jordan's baseball card. I grew up with boys. I wanted to fit in.
• Harry Potter doll still in the box. Yeah, I got it two years ago.
  
• My wedding dress from when I almost got married three years ago. I think it's about time that bad boy end up on Ebay.
  
• A Barbie with her head shaved and her arms cut off and melted back onto her body. Frightening? Yes. Weird and confusing? Yes. Wondering why I still have it? Yes. Did I throw it away? No. We all have to mess our kids up somehow, right!
  
• A clear ball with a fake eyeball floating in it.
  
• My prom dress from high school that I wore two years in a row. Any girl in the world knows that that is just ridiculously embarrassing. The first year I got it because it reminded me of Kate Winslet's dress in Titanic...the one she wore when she was going to jump off the ship. No comments please. The second year my mom insisted I wear it again because she had spent so much money on it. To this day, I kid you not, my mom wants me to wear it again and have someone take my picture. We're a weird family.

Okay, I think that's enough.

Back to my super awesome crap!

When I was a kid, all I did was read. I stuck to myself a lot of the time. When I got old enough to write, I started writing stories. Looking through this box of my stuff I found some pretty amazing writing. I found my first book called "Help" that I wrote when I was in the 4th grade. It was about a family going through a divorce. My second book called "The Girls Club" was reminiscent of The Babysitters Club or Sweet Valley High. I also found poems, papers I wrote, drawings, paintings. And you know what....it's all pretty darn amazing. So this week, I am going to post some of my stuff on here. It's not to Wow! you or get compliments. It's to remind me of who I am, and what I love. I spent a lot of years living like I was someone else, and now it's time to remember my first loves...my dreams! Some of this was written out of pain, but it feels good to share it now that I've made it through.

So I am going to start flashback week with a poem I wrote. This is circa 1994 when I was in eighth grade. There isn't a title:

I'm glad I stayed
in this place I found
once when I was looking 'round.
Here is where I
brought fate.
Here is where I made my own mistakes.

Here is often where I lay awake
not to worry
about you and you
but rather
to feel the way I do.

Before, I'd swallow what they'd say
lived in their houses day after day.
It worked for them, but not for me.
I would sometimes try to make them see.

So huff and puff and blow all day
this house is strong
I made it that way.

But know that I won't stay inside
behind a wall
cowering and scared
and afraid to fall.

For now I know
it's time to go.
Time to try another road.

And don't even worry about me.
I'll take this way
see what I see.
This was not a bad place to stay
but now, you just hang, I'll go my way.