Around 2004,
My parents tell me we are moving to a new city across the country, called Tucson, at the end of the school year. I’ve never heard about this place and I’m not ready to leave my home and leave all my friends. I ask when we will be able to go back and see our best friends again. They say soon. We haven’t been back since.

Around 2001,
My mom picked me up from school not too long after she dropped me off. I asked why there was smoke in the sky. She told me a plane crashed into a building in town. I never really understood 9/11 until I studied it in Social Studies.

Around 1998,
My baby sisters are born. They are twins. When they first came home, I can’t really remember that. But my mom said they were the most beautiful things you could ever see. It’s a shame that they didn’t stay that way.

When I am 14 years old,
It is graduation night at the middle school. I am excited because I can finally be free from waking up early in the morning. I am even more excited to move on to high school.

Around 2010,
I step onto the campus. It is a good time for me because I could start a new school life. I am ready to have the freedom of going to high school. I’m also a bit nervous because I don’t know what is ahead of me.

Around 2005,
We are on our way to adopting new dogs. I’m nervous but excited at the same time. I hope they are cute. When I see them, they are not as cute as I was expecting. But their love is more important. They are still with me and I love them dearly.

Around 2004,
I meet a boy who lives on my street who is the same age as me. His name is Dylan. We play football in the street with the leftover Pringles can that I was eating out of minutes before. To this day, he is still my friend.




When I am 8 years old,
My sister pushes me into a shelf and I bleed nonstop. My mom puts paper towels over my head and rushes me to the hospital. I will never forget when they put 8 staples into the back of my scalp.

When I am 14 years old,
The doctor says I have pneumonia and that if I’m not taken to the hospital for intensive care, I will soon be dead. I spend a week in that place where I got surgery, tons of x-rays, and annoying doctors coming in and out. I don’t ever want to have to go through that again.

When I am about 10 years old,
I decide to finally shave off my extremely long hair. After the weekend, I go to school and no one speaks to me because they don’t recognize my new look. They think I am a new student. When they do realize it is me, the only thing they say is I don’t look like a girl anymore.

Around 2000,
My best friend, Edouard, comes over and brags to me how he is doing judo and that he has learned a bunch of new moves. He tries doing a move to really show me off. He ends up breaking his arm and getting a cast for 2 weeks.