Chapter Three: Horses

My all time, favorite animal would have to be horses. Ever since I was a little girl I have loved horses. Just about every girl has wanted a pony when they were little. Most of those girls tend to grow out of that stage. I, however, never did. The older I got the more I wanted a horse. Every birthday, Christmas, and any other time I got the chance, I asked for a horse. That dream has yet to come true, but I’m not giving up!

I never cared much for ponies. I always went for the big draft horses. My first love was the Clydesdales. They were big and beautiful. I loved their flowing manes and the loads of hair on their hooves. They are giant beasts standing at 16 to 19 hands tall. For those who don’t know a hand is about 4 to 5 inches. That would make them 5 to 6 feet tall. And they weigh as much a Volkswagen Beetle. I would go to fairs and see them. Getting as close as I could yet making sure to steer clear of their big hooves. I have never ridden one, and being afraid of heights, I’m not sure how I would do!

My passion has shifted to a different breed that I found out about not too long ago. It is called Gypsy Vanner. The name derived from the time when these horses would pull Gypsy caravans. They are native to the UK although they have, in past years, been imported to North America. They are generally black and white although they can be solid colors and some are even known to have palomino coloring, or to be brown and white. They have very long manes and long feathering around their hooves. The Gypsy isn’t as tall as the Clydesdale standing at 4 to 5 feet tall. But they are still giant in comparison to other breeds.

            Horses have always seemed to be symbol of freedom to me. They always looked to be big, majestic, and in control. Riding on a horse allows me to taste that freedom, even if it is for a short period of time. I don’t own a horse, and I rarely get the chance to ride. But my dream of owning one someday has never left. I have never seen a Gypsy Vanner in real life, but it is something I wish to do. Owning one however would indeed be a dream, as they are very expensive starting at close to $30,000. Who knows, maybe someday I’ll be rich and live on a farm with my very own Gypsy Vanner.

Chapter Two: Sisters

            I am the oldest of five girls. No brothers, just me and my sisters.

            Having four sisters can be loads of fun, and other times it can be super annoying.

            It’s fun because every day is a girl day. We get to do each other’s hair, and makeup. And we can share each other’s clothes and shoes. Sometimes that’s not so fun! When we were younger we would have tea parties galore. As we got older we didn’t do that as much. But every now and again we would pull out the old tea set I found at a garage sale and we would dress up in our ‘Sunday best’. We would make a dainty lunch, usually of sandwiches with the crust cut off, and light candles and set the table neatly. Then we would start our tea party. It wasn’t the usual parties where everyone is all prim and proper. Oh sure, it would start out that way but never continued in that fashion. Often we would, literally, spill the milk, or drop cookies all over our pretty outfits. The best part would be when someone would start a story with, “Remember when?” And the reminiscing began. Oh, it was so much fun. We would laugh at all the things we used to do. Like how much I loved setting up for tea parties. Or how we would beg Beth to join in and do anything to get her to come. She would refuse for the longest time and then eventually come and have a better time than the rest of us. Tea parties were so much fun for me because it brought us closer together again. We would go for such a long time being upset with each other and then we would have a tea party and remember all the fun times we used to have. Just thinking about it makes me happy.

            Having four sisters isn’t always a bowl of cherries. We argue a lot and seem to forget that we each have most of the same feelings. We tend to blow one another off like they don’t have feelings. We can usually get back on good terms with each other it just sometimes takes a while. Another thing that is awful with four sisters is mood swings. Oh, MY GOODNESS!!! For rizzle. It’s like if one person is moody EVERYONE must join the party. And then everyone is crabby or emotional at the same time. Goodness gracious, it’s horrible. We now just know that if one person is in bad form the rest of us are doomed. It is now an unspoken code that we just automatically go to the store and buy a bunch of chocolate bars. I get dark chocolate, the next two get milk chocolate, the fourth gets peanut butter and chocolate, and the fifth gets chocolate caramel. It’s pretty funny seeing the five of us bundled up in blankets watching a Disney movie and eating our chocolate bars. This is our way of dealing with it and not blowing up in each other's faces. Even though we aren’t always on the best terms with each other, I wouldn’t trade my sisters in for anything. Through thick and thin we are stuck with each other! :)

Chapter One: Writing

Writing to me is like entering a world where you control everything that happens. You are the writer, you are the creator, you the one who decides what the normal standard is for everything. No one is telling you what to do or who has to be in your story. You get to decide what your characters are going to do, and who they are going to be. Writing is like making a world that is, in your mind, perfect. Whether your idea of “perfect” is skewed or not, doesn’t matter because you get to decide.

For me writing is a place of escape. When things are rough, I write in a fashion that seems to make the struggles disappear. My characters get to play my role, they go through what I’m feeling and almost seem to help me deal with things. They are me. All of them, from the girl who lost her sight to the little boy who runs up and down the hill with his dog. For me writing is real. It comes alive. I feel everything that flows from my fingertips.

Writing can also be very emotional. There are times when I am writing and find myself crying. Why? I don’t know. It’s like I become who I am writing, and when I finish something I almost feel a sense of regret that it’s over because it feels like I have just lived so many other lives. And now I have to go back to my normal life until a new story develops.

I didn’t always like writing. In fact I never wrote any type of story until about a year or two ago. My younger sisters always wrote, and I thought what they did was pretty good so I never gave much thought to doing it myself. When they wanted to have a competition to see who could write the best story I thought I would give it a shot and see how far I could go. Well, I started and they started and then they stopped and I never did. I loved it. It took hold of me and thoughts and ideas literally started flowing through my mind. I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed it. It seemed impossible that I could write anything. I mean I thought I hated writing!! How on earth then could I all of the sudden love it? I think the fact that I could control everything that happened and that I could make sense of what was happening in my own life through someone else’s life seemed incredible.

Writing isn’t always fun though. There are times when I am stumped for days on where to move forward. But it is also exciting because looking around things that you would never think of seemed to jump from obscurity and inspire in ways one would only imagine. Writing has its pros and cons just like anything else. But I believe that the good outweighs the bad.

Introduction

           The reason I chose this topic is because it is the thing I know most about. Me! How much easier can it get. I struggled with choosing a topic because I like so many things. I have lots of family and friends. I like animals, music, books, writing, cooking, baking, walking, nature, and the list could go on. By choosing the topic ‘This Is Me’ I can cover all of these things. I can have so much more to talk about and my supply of information is not as likely to deplete quite so quickly.

            ‘This Is Me’ will reflect who I am as a person. I can share the things I like to do and also some of the things and people in my life. It will give me a way to tell about different aspects of my life. Such as my love for horses and my dog, Copper. As well as the days in the fall when my sisters and I bake holiday goodies with my mom. I can go into how music lifts me up and encourages me when I’m down or how when I write I feel like I can escape my own problems and pretend I’m living somebody else’s life for a while.

            Starting a blog was not my idea of a good time, but the more I think about it the more excited I become. I get to tell people about me. I do not know how far this will go or even if it will ever leave the small class it originated from. The thrill of writing and knowing that people are reading it makes me want to write to the utmost of my ability. I may not be the best writer out there, but I enjoy it. I like writing in my journal, even though I’m not very good about keeping it up, and I love writing stories. Something about writing just makes me happy.

            I pray that this blog may in some way inspire and encourage others to write. Writing about yourself is very intimidating, especially for me. I like writing stories where someone else has some of my problems, but where no one knows that it is me. No one wants anyone else to know that they have problems or that they struggle with things. I believe that to be a truly great writer one has to write about what is closest to them. Whether it be about you or a family member or a personal experience or just something that you really enjoy. This will be the struggle yet at the same time, the joy of writing this semester. Trying to write in a way that shows transparency.