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Life

Jackson Stauffer

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DedicationI dedicate this book to my family, and all the people who are struggling in life.

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! ! ! ! Table of Contents

.............................................................................................My Name! Page 5

........................................................................................My Neighbor! Page 6

.................................................................................Life in Wisconsin! Page 7

..................................................................................Special Birthday! Page 8

.....................................................................................The Big Game! Page 9

..............................................................................Getting in Trouble! Page 10

.......................................................................Negative School Story! Page 11

..................................................................................Special Holiday! Page 12

....................................................................................Going to work! Page 13

....................................................................................Childhood Toy! Page 14

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! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! My Name

! My name greatly describes me in many ways. Jackson means to show a love in nature and outdoors. I am in love with nature and being outside. Although I am able to express myself in many ways, my name is like a jail cell. I live inside my own thoughts. My thinking surrounds me sometimes like a cobra choking me. Ordinary people seem to never understand me completely. I suffer quietly most of the time, never letting anyone see what hurts my feelings. My name describes people’s ability to offend me without me showing it. You would never even know if you hurt my feelings. Another negative to the name Jackson is that it is associated with organ and respiratory failure. ! I love my name! I feel like it fits me perfectly. I like the way it sounds when certain people say it. When I see my name I think it looks cool, it’s something I am proud of for some reason. I inherited my name from my great uncle Jackson. I never got to meet him, but I was named after him because he was very positive and usually saw the good in everyone. I look up to him and I am proud to wear his name. I would love to end up like him. From what I have heard he was really fun to be around no matter the time. I did not know that my name shows a love for nature until today. It was really surprising considering I love the outdoors. My name is a sunny day that only leads to bigger and better things. I do not believe everyone fits their name but I sure know that I fit mine!

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! ! ! ! My Neighborhood

! My neighborhood had always been a great place to live. I moved to my current house when I was about 2, and I have loved it since then. I have never really wanted or needed to leave my neighborhood considering my best friend lives right next door. His name is Riley Scallon. We have best friends since he moved in, which was about a year after I moved in. Riley and I are like two pees in a pod, we never leave each others side. Besides Riley my other neighbors are pretty cool themselves. I don’t have a problem with anybody. My neighborhood is usually quite quiet besides the occasional vroom vroom of a lawn mower or a snowblower. I also love where I live, because I am close to quick trip and close to features. But I am not in the middle of town. There are tons of dogs where I live, but unfortunately none of them are mine. The dogs can sometimes get annoying with their loud barking and constant whining, but I love them. Every once in a while I will have to return a neighbors dog that strayed into my yard when their owner turned his or her back. In my neighborhood there is no drug problem, there is no stealing, or prostitution. I would say I am pretty darn lucky to live in such a nice area tucked away from crime and evil. I take to much about my neighborhood for granted, like the flowers. The flowers around my house and other houses are beautiful. During spring I get horrible allergies because of all the pollen. The flowers and bushes around my house and others make my neighborhood seem so much more welcoming. And of course everyone is welcome to live there! I truly grew up in a great neighborhood.! ! ! !

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! ! ! ! Life in Wisconsin

! There are many words to describe life in Wisconsin. Words like cold, warm, space, fields, grass, trees, beautiful and so on. But the word that gets to me the most is beautiful. Wisconsin to me is absolutely beautiful. Every season brings a new change and a new color that I enjoy seeing. Wisconsin has multiple things that are beautiful about it. From the flowing, fluent rivers, to the calm and peaceful lakes. Wisconsin to me is a place where I can be comfortable and peaceful, and where I can be myself. People often don’t realize how nice we have it here. In Wisconsin summers I spend my free time at a lake swimming or working on a farm. There are so many opportunities for me. And of course visiting the dells is always fun. Wisconsin has one of the worlds largest indoor water parks in the world! And it is all within a reasonable driving distance. To me Wisconsin has perfect weather. In the winter time it gets very cold, and by the time you are tired of the cold summer brings nice heat to relax in. The spring brings big beautiful flowers. The hills in Wisconsin are one of the most beautiful sites it has to offer. In the fall time you can look out over all the hills and see many different color leaves. It is beautiful. A big reason I love Wisconsin is all the hunting, fishing, or riding ATV’s and snowmobiles. Not many states have the option to do all that! To me Wisconsin is a safe place to live. It is quiet. Not many bad things happen hear. There are plenty of small towns that stay away from all the problems of the bigger cities. I sometimes do not realize how lucky I truly am.

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! ! ! ! Special Birthday

! The most special birthday I ever had, was last years birthday when I turned fourteen. My birthday falls on January 14, so it so happen to be my golden birthday. My dad asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday and I just told him I wanted nothing special. I wanted to go to my grandmas house and have a small family get together, and go bowling or something. When I arrive to my grandmas house, I wanted nothing more than to just go ride my four wheeler in peace. When I go to my grandmas house that is one of my favorite things to do. I told my dad I would be gone for an hour. When I returned from my ride I noticed there were quite a few cars parked in front of her house. A huge smile ran across my face. I knew that all these people had shown up for me. When I went inside I saw faces of people that I had not seen for years. I saw my second cousin who had just recently moved back from California. I saw friends of my grandma. I was super happy. Most of the day passed and we all went bowling. Bowling is one of my favorite things to do. After bowling we went back to my grandmas house. Throughout the whole day I had not thought of opening presents. Considering I usually don’t get much for my birthday. But when I walked into the kitchen and saw all of the gigantic gifts I was in shock. All these people had bought me presents. It took me over an hour to open them, and weeks to write thank you card. I was really spoiled that birthday.

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! ! ! ! ! The Big Game

! It was the seventh grade state tournament that I played my biggest game at. We had won four games and lost two. We were somehow playing for eleventh place. That might not seam so good but our bracket had 42 teams in it. The team we played was pretty good, they had played harder teams then we did, but they still had the same record. I was not feeling very confident going into the start of the game. I probably had only around four points until the fourth quarter. But I all of Sudan realized that we were right in it and had a chance to win. That is when my confidence rose. When the fourth quarter started I decided I would leave everything on the court. I went all out. I started scoring layup after layup and we were pulling ahead. But just as soon as our lead rose I began to get into foul trouble, so I was put on the bench. Our gap in the lead changed, and I was terrifically terrified. I wanted to win so bad. With about two minutes left the basket seamed to be acting like a little child, playing trick on us. None of our shots would fall, when we needed them to. But it seemed like the other teams basket was perfectly fine considering they pulled ahead by about eight points. At this point I was subbed back into the game. Within about twenty seconds of being subbed in I mad scored. We closed the gap and were now tide. With about fifteen seconds left I got the ball on the block and put it up. I made the basket and I was fouled. The free throw I had to shoot was one of the most pressure filled moments I have ever had in basketball. But I sunk it. We were now up by three. When they in bounded the ball one of my teammates stole it and scored. We had sealed the deal, there was only five seconds left and we were winning by five. Our coach called time out and told us all to hold hands in the corner of the court, so we would’t foul them. It was so funny to stand there and hold hands, but it felt awesome to know I had helped win the game. I will never forget that game.

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! ! ! ! Getting in Trouble

TroubleFunFriendsGamesRules

TroubleScaryMoviesPopcornHungryThirsty BathroomWashingClothesDirty

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! ! ! ! Negative School Story

! My most negative school story was in third grade. I had three best friends. We all got along really well. Around half way through the year we started playing a football game at recess. It was really fun, until we started getting Sick of each other. We started getting really annoyed when we would talk. And eventually my other two friends and I got in a fight with the other. The friend that we were arguing with decided to make up a story. Apparently he told his mom on us too. When his mom found out she called the school. I was about to go out to recess, when I was told I was suppose to go to the office. When I went to the office they told to go to the guidance councilors office. When I got there my friends were all in the room. I thought that we were in trouble for playing this game at recess. But I was wrong. The guidance councilor started talking about bullying. It was dark in his office like a stormy night. I was scared I had no clue what he was talking about. When I went home my parents were waiting for me. My mom was crying. I wanted to cry myself, and I didn’t even know what was wrong. My dad told me he was very disappointed in me, and started to explain how he didn’t raise me to be a bully. They said about how big of a deal it was that I was beating a kid up at recess every day for no reason. I was amazingly astonished. I could not believe that my friend had lied and said that I beat him up every day for no reason. I will never forget about getting accused of something so mean, with being totally innocent.

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! ! ! ! ! Special HolidaysCookiesHolidayRappingIceSpecialTreatsMistletoeAppreciateSinging

BagsInterestingRappingTalkingHappyDelightAgeYoung

EatAmazingSpecialTreasureEggsRespect

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! ! ! ! ! Going to Work

! When I work it is summer time. I don’t ever like working but I have to make money. My dad and I mow lawns. The lawns we mow are all within at least ten minutes but most of them are in west salem. We usually mow the lawns all in one day. All together it will take around four to five hours which is not bad. The reason I like mowing lawns is I only have to work one day a week. Before we go I hook up a trailer to my dads truck and put the lawn mowers on. I make sure that all the lawn mowers have gas and oil in them before we leave my house. By the end of summer I really get sick of cutting grass. Going in circles for an hour at a time can be really boring. The day is always dry. With some of the lawns I mow the dust is terrible. Mowing lawns is like a cold beautiful night. It is not always fun to do or be in, but it is peaceful and does not take much to do, but sit on a mower. My job isn’t really that hard. I get paid very well for working one day a week. Sometimes I complain when my dad tells me we have to mow, but that is mostly because it’s super hot out. It is not fun to mow lawns in the hot, dry summer air. I will never forget my first job of mowing lawns.

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! ! ! ! ! Childhood Toy! When I was little I had one toy that was my favorite, that toy was a mini fire truck that I could sit on. I used it everywhere. I was constantly driving it around in my house like a mad man. It drove my parents crazy. The truck had buttons on it that I could press and it would sound sirens. I would ride my truck up and down the stairs all day. I would pretend that I was a fire fighter. Whenever I would go somewhere in my house I would ride my truck. It was my mode of transportation. Whenever I rode my fire truck I was as happy as a bird in the summer time. When I started getting to big for the truck it was very hard to admit. I wanted to always ride it and I never thought I would out grow it. I still remember the day that we put it into storage. I was sad but I knew that I didn’t fit on it anymore. When I look back now I realize how big of an imagination I had. I could make anything fun. I saw the truck the other day and it didn’t even look slightly amusing. And now when I sit on it my butt barely even fits on the seat. It’s amazing to think of how much I have grown since I rode it. I hope that some day if I have kids they could use it and grow to love it the same way I did.

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! ! ! ! ! Work CitedCover Picture:http://www.marcandangel.com/2009/04/13/how-to-live-life/

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