Picture this. Two small girls, not much over the age of five or six. They’re both cousins. They’re in the basement of one of their homes, running circles around the staircase in the center of the large room whilst riding atop a red, rubber donkey, not much larger than they are. They both have the largest of grins on their faces, their dark hair swishing back and forth across their faces as they run. They are both wearing dress-up clothes a little bigger than them, probably the fluffiest, most sparkly dresses you could ever imagine. The elder of the two is wearing some form of plastic tiara upon her head, which looks as if it will fall off at any moment. The younger is wearing a pink cowboy hat that is much larger than her head, and continues to fall in her face.
“Come on, Anna, we need to go faster!” the younger girl yells.
“I’m trying my hardest, but the speed boost is failing! Is there any way to fix it, Grace?”
“Fire blasters, on!”
“What?” Anna replies, her blue eyes wide in shock, “How will the fire blasters help us?”
“Just trust me!”
Grace leaned forward a bit as they ran, a gleam in her lovely brown eyes. The two began to run faster and faster around the staircase, as if their plan had actually started to work. Grace lifts up one of her arms, and points straight in front of her.
“To infinity and beyond?”
Anna grins in response, and follows suit, pointing one of her arms straight in front of her.
“To infinity and beyond.”
Now most of their childhood went on this way, all sorts of adventures to say the least. Together they stormed castles, fought dragons, became master chefs, and so much more. Even as their younger siblings began to grow older and join in on their adventures, they were still some of the most wonderful things in the world.
The girls are now aged around ten or eleven. Their parents and grandparents have decided that this year, they were all going to take a family vacation. All twelve of them. Sadly, that included both girls’ younger siblings. One day, they all piled into their cars, with overly filled suitcases, and started the long, long drive to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Their condo had a large pool right next to it, which obviously made it the most fabulous place of all time. The children couldn’t wait for all the adventures they’d have here. Imagine all the sea creatures they’d discover, all the lovely seashells they’d find, and all the sandcastles they’d build. This place couldn’t be any better for them.
On one particularly sunny morning, they were all woken up by Anna’s mother, telling them that today was going to be especially fun for them. They were going to go to the beach. Now of course they’d all been to a beach before, if of course you count the rocky sands of Lake Erie as a beach. Other than that, they had never really seen a true beach, with beautiful sand, and ocean waves, at least not as far as they could remember. The children all hurried to get ready, and had their swimsuits on in almost an instant. They all rushed into the dining area and ate much faster than should be humanly possible, because they knew that today was going to be amazing for them.
Anna and Grace ran out onto the warm sand, hand in hand, grins on their faces. The salty, summer breeze blew their hair in their faces as they raced across the beach, getting closer and closer to the bright, blue water. It couldn’t have been more perfect. Now, all the children did of course have their fun swimming, and building sandcastles and such, but there was one very important thing that they couldn’t possibly forget. They had to look for sand dollars.
Grace’s father gathered all six of the children, and walked with them into the water. He taught them to feel for the sand dollars with their feet, and then dive down to pick them up with their hands. It soon became a competition among the children as to who could collect the most sand dollars before they had to leave the beach. They’d rush to shore with multiple sand dollars in hand, toss them in their plastic bucket, and then race back into the water to gather even more of the lovely treasures. At the end of their beach trip, they drove back to their condo, multiple buckets of sand dollars in tow.
Much later that night, they went to dinner with Anna and Grace’s mother’s cousin, whom they all called Aunt Lee. They all told her excitedly about their adventure at the beach that day. Now, she went a little pale when they mentioned the fact that they’d taken sand dollars from the beach.
“You do know that’s illegal, right?” Aunt Lee asked.
“Really? Why?” Anna’s mother responded.
It turned out that sand dollars were endangered creatures, so removing them from their homes was technically illegal and punishable by quite a hefty fine. So the first thing they did when they returned to their condo that night, was put all the pails of sand dollars in one large, black trash bag. They then continued to walk outside their condo, turn a few corners, and throw out said trash bag in one of the neighbor’s dumpsters, so that way if anyone did get in trouble for the sand dollars, it wasn’t them.
Then came July 2016. It was just a bit past their second trip to Hilton Head Island, which sort of became a tradition with their family, but that’s beside the point. They were all sat down, having a relatively nice dinner with one another. Everything seemed just a little too perfect. The news came just a few moments later, and it was definitely something that no one had expected.
“Alright everyone, we have something to tell you,” Grace’s mother started off.
The tensions built in the room rose noticeably, even though all but Anna’s immediate family knew what she was about to say. The possibilities were literally endless, however. Had someone developed a terminal illness? Were they telling Anna’s family that they no longer liked them? The possibilities raced through everyone’s minds, paranoia flitting through the room.
“Somewhere mid-September,” she paused, “we’re all going to be moving to Virginia.”
A dreadful silence hung over the room. No one could believe that this was actually going to happen. Anna’s family was in shock. They’d all grown so close over the years, seeing each other multiple times a week, and they were leaving just like that? That’s a very painful bond to break, like tearing off a band-aid that’s been superglued to your body. Grace’s family and Anna’s were close, but their grandparents were moving with Grace’s family as well. They all knew that this couldn’t be easy. Correct that, wouldn’t be easy. Couldn’t implies that this could be avoided. Sadly, it was unavoidable.
The next few months went on quite somberly, and they tried to cram in family visits as often as possible. They all got to see one another four, maybe five times a week, which does in fact sound wonderful, however it seemed to be anything but. Everyone tried their hardest to be happy, but deep down they were all hurting. Imagine losing your best friend, how that would feel. Their moving away felt about ten billion times worse than that, for both sides of the family. They did still have a lot of fun in those weeks, that can be assured, but there was always the slight tinge of anguish, because they knew that come September, they’d no longer see each other this often.
Finally, it came to be September. Anna’s family had already started school, but Grace’s family and their grandparents had been staying in Anna’s home for the past week or so. That morning, they were all awoken around five in the morning, so that way they’d all be able to say a final goodbye before the next time they’d see one another, in this case, Thanksgiving. Not a single eye was without tears shed in the entire home. Everyone was absolutely devastated. They all hugged one another over and over, all twelve of them, in hopes that if they hugged one another tight enough, maybe Grace’s family wouldn’t have to leave them. The hugs made it none the better as they did eventually have to say their final goodbyes, so that they’d arrive to their new home in time to fill out the paperwork for their new school. Someone announced that they’d have to finish up so Grace’s family could leave, so everyone gave one last, tight hug to every member of the family that was to leave, and that was it. They all walked out the front door, tears still fresh in their eyes, and piled into their cars. Anna’s family was still in tears as they pulled down the driveway, although by now, they needed to start getting ready for their own school day.
The year of 2015-2016 was in fact a rough year for all of them. It was very difficult to transition from seeing one another multiple times a week to now. They only saw one another in full maybe five or six times that entire year, although their grandparents did come to visit much more often than that. They all learned to cherish the time they had with one another, because it would always be a few months before they saw one another again. It is still quite rough for all of them, in the sense that they’ve lost their best friends, rest assured, they’re getting through it. They’re coping. They’re surviving.
Reflection:
1. I’m actually really proud of my final product. I didn’t really expect to complete much more than three pages, the required amount. In the end, I had seven pages written. I definitely did more than I originally expected, which is something I’m really proud of. I guess I could’ve written more if I tried, but seven pages rather than the expected three is definitely an accomplishment. One thing that could definitely be improved on would be to have remembered to add a title. That’s kind of important, and I completely forgot to add one.
2. I feel like all the brainstorming and outlining steps were a little useless. Once you have an idea, you should be able to go straight to working on it, rather than having to do all this repetitive, excess work. The anchor text exploration was of little use as well. We had already practiced theme a lot, and it didn’t contribute anything to our final project to tear apart a story and analyze every part. All we really had to do was come up with an idea, and write about it. The other steps were kind of unnecessary.
3. I solved problems by correcting grammar and spelling errors in my own work as I was writing. Some errors were easily visible, and quickly fixable. I helped others solve problems during peer review. I edited both JoHanna and Angel’s narratives. I helped them problem solve by showing them where mistakes could be found in their narratives, and helping them to fix their errors. Problem solving was definitely a large part of this project.