Real Life Reflections

I stormed down the hall and slammed the door. I’d had enough! Dumping my books out of my backpack, I began shoving in clothes – anything I could grab. I dug through the junk on the floor of my closet and found my stash – my life’s savings. I shoved it on top of my clothes. In the midst of this frenzy, I heard a soft knock on my door. "Tricia?" It was my mom. “What now?” I couldn’t keep the anger out of my voice. She was just going to launch into another tirade. Her list of my shortcomings was endless, and I didn’t want to hear them anymore. I didn’t open the door; I climbed out my window, backpack in tow, grabbed my bike and took off for the bus station. Jeremy didn’t know I was coming. He’d be so surprised. I couldn’t wait to see him! We’ve been together for a year; but since his family moved to St. Louis four months ago, we haven’t seen each other. We haven’t even been able to talk much He'd made the varsity soccer team; and with all the games and practices, he hadn’t h...

I awoke in the middle of the night or so it seemed for it was still dark outside my window. I was groggy, but I knew I'd heard something. What was it? The puppies! I was awake in an instant. Glady was having her puppies! I scrambled out of bed as fast as I could and ran down the two flights of stairs that took me to where my mom and one of my three sisters sat and watched Glady, lying in an open box filled with old blankets. She was licking one of three tiny black puppies. I'd never seen anything so small that was actually a real live puppy! They were so small even I could have fit one in the palm of my hand - and I was only 7 years old. They were cuter than any stuffed animal I'd ever seen. I wanted so much to hold one, but my mom said that Glady wouldn't like that very much, so I just watched as she licked them (Mom said that was her way of giving them a bath) and as they snuggled with her. They couldn't even open their eyes yet. It wasn't too long before the ...

One evening in the middle of spring, white fluffy clouds filled the sky. As the evening wore on, those white fluffy clouds became dark heavy-looking clouds. If you listened very carefully, you could hear the raindrops in the clouds talking excitedly. “Can I go now Momma?” asked a little raindrop. “Not yet Raymond” answered his mother. “But when Momma? When can I go?” “Very soon. Very soon.” Just then there was a bright flash of light and a very loud clap. The flash was so bright and the clap was so loud that little Raymond jumped! “What was that Momma?” he cried out. Raymond’s mother answered, “The flash is called lightening and the loud clap is called thunder. The lightening is like a great big light bulb in the sky and thunder is the sound that the light bulb makes when it’s turned on. The lightening is hot just like a light bulb, and it heats up the air so fast that it makes noise. When you hear the thunder it means it almost time to go.” “Really?” Raymond was excited. He’d been wai...