Me, Myself, & I

Stories and poems about my life

By: Brianna Holt

Table of Contents

....................................................................................................................Dedication! 1

.....................................................................................................................My Name! 2

.................................................................A Happy Time For Me & A Special Holiday! 3

............................................................................................A Special Family Member! 4

.............................................................................................................The Big Game! 5

.........................................................................................................Life In Wisconsin! 6

........................................................................................................My Neighborhood! 7

............................................................................................The Time I Got In Trouble! 8

.......................................................................................................A Special Birthday! 9

.....................................................................A Positive/Negative Story From School! 10

Dedication

I dedicate this book to all of my friends and family who have been a part of my life, to help me create all of these stories

1

My Name

I do not particularly like my name. It is a common name, but not too common. I would like a name that is very unique though. Brianna just sounds too bland, like a piece of wheat bread without anything on it. Although, the meaning of my name does fit me. Someone who has a desire for association with new people and experiences, gregarious personality, creative, a desire to travel. People with my name may appear confident and positive, but in reality they lack confidence and are self conscious at times. That definition of me is definitely spot on. My name has seven letters in it. That is quite odd, actually, because seven is my lucky number! That has been my lucky number since I was about nine years old, when it was my hockey number. I think it’s a neat story about how my name came about. My uncle, who I am very close with, name is Brian. He is my dad’s only sibling, other than my dad’s sister who died a long time ago. My dad’s sister’s name was Anna. A sort of tribute to her, and my uncle, my parents combined their names. That is how my name was created. I guess there are a few upsides to my name then. I just wish I could have something that I like more, something with a certain ring to it, something unique that everyone would know me by. Maybe I’ll just change my name to Ginger, everyone already calls me that anyways!

2

Circle Poems

A Happy Time For MeMemoriesFriendsSummerLakeTubingBoatingBarbecuesPartiesPeopleTogetherFamilyVacation

A Special HolidayValentine’s DayRosesPromSweetCandyHalloweenAutumnLeavesCrunchyCerealLucky CharmsLove

3

A Special Family Member

Really, my whole family is special, to me anyways. Not just my immediate family, but all of my grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. Someone who is truly special to me though is my great aunt. She is only in her mid-sixties but has been battling cancer for a while now. Cancer is so cruel, like a harsh wind whipping against your face in the wintertime. Unfortunately, she has a massive brain tumor that is not looking so good right now. It has caused her, and everyone close to her, so much pain and distress. It has slowly devoured her, she can hardly speak or move at all now. Stunningly, through all of this she has been so strong, a warrior. When my family goes to visit her, her whole face lights up when we walk into the room. She always tries to speak to us, and always manages to get a few words out, no matter if it hurts to speak or not. She continues to find joy in life, even when it seems her world is crumbling down. This is the main reason why I look up to her so much. If I had cancer, I would try and stay positive, but after a while it just wouldn’t be enough. Before she acquired cancer, she always put others before herself. She was so giving, and did wonderful things for her friends and family. When she gets better, I know she will continue to bring smiles to people’s faces. Another reason why she is truly special to me.

4

Cinquain

The Big Game

SoccerIntense, Fast-paced

Sprint, Kick, DefendNervous, Excited, Rambunctious, Pumped

Ready

5

Life In Wisconsin

I love Wisconsin, most of the time. Here you get a little bit of everything, weather wise. Cold, harsh winters, scorching summers, and chilly autumn winds. The winters are usually pretty bad though. It either snows a ton, or hardly at all. If it snows a lot it’s fun at first, then it gets old, and all of that shoveling is too much to handle. When it doesn’t snow, it doesn’t even feel like winter, because we’re so use to it here. Wisconsin summers are the best. It is usually temperate, and some days it can just be average out. If it happens to be sultry weather, people here just find the nearest source of water and cool off with it! Living right by a lake is convenient for this reason. Another thing a lot of people do in the summer here is take a little trip down to Wisconsin Dells. There are so many water parks and resorts you can hardly choose just one! Wisconsin has a lot of neat places to go. I grew up right here, in West Salem, Wisconsin. Everyone knows everyone here, because it is a small town. I think that’s good though, it gives the place more of a homey feeling. Everyone is close in our school too, for the most part. People are friends with kids in their own grade, the grades below, and the grades above. Another thing about Wisconsin is that we all ban together to watch our boys play; The Green Bay Packers. If you don’t like them in Wisconsin, you are a disgrace. So life in Wisconsin is great, I feel like everyone who lives here can all share a bond of the love we have for this state.

6

My Neighborhood

My neighborhood is fairly new, about 7 years old, which is young for a neighborhood! I have lived here for about 4 and a half years now, and we had a warm welcoming when we arrived. Our neighbors brought us food, and house warming gifts, they were all very kind right away. My neighborhood is big, but there are a lot of gaps in between houses where lots still need to be purchased. There are a lot of beautiful houses here, which leads some people to call it the “Rich Person Neighborhood”, which is not entirely true. Yes, there are some wealthy people that live here, but most people here are just average. A vocal point in my neighborhood is the park; Jim Zanter Park. It is a castle towering over everything, an escape for all of the little kids. I admit it, it is fun, sliding down the slides and running around the park. I enjoy the basketball court that’s right next to the park more though. Another plus side to my neighborhood, is that it’s right by Lake Neshonoc, so you can just jump in whenever you want! We have a boat and one of the docs is behind our house, so it’s very accessible during the summer. Overall, I enjoy my neighborhood, it is home to me. I hope my parents stay here after I move out, because then I will always have a familiar place to come back to. A place that is my neighborhood.

7

A Time I Got In Trouble

It all started about 2 years ago on a rowdy Friday night. My sister Faith had her friend Sadie sleepover. I don’t remember why but I just stayed home that night, and decided to hangout with them for the night. Faith and Sadie had to get up fairly early in the morning for their basketball tournament, so my mother warned them numerous times to get to bed early. It was about 10 o’ clock when my mom called up the stairs “Go to bed girls!”. We tried, but we were having too much fun. Before we knew it, it was midnight, and we were getting wild. We took out the game Hi Ho Cherrio and started throwing the little cherries across my sister’s room at each other, like little toddlers. In an aggravated shout we heard my mom, once again warning us to get in bed, now. Faith, Sadie, and I realized it was really time to wind down now. We started to get ready for bed, when an idea struck me across the head. My brother was sleeping in the room right next to us, and why pass up an opportunity to pull a prank on him? So we went with a classic trick, the shaving cream and feather one. I was the perpetrator of this, so while Faith and Sadie watched I snuck into his room and put shaving cream in his hand and tickled his face with a feather. He smeared it all over his face, but woke up in the midst of it. Us girls bolted back into Faith’s room. By this time, it was about 2 in the morning. We heard Brendan run downstairs to tattle on me. As we were laughing our butts off, we heard a giant pounding up the stairs, and my mom scream “Brianna!”. Sadie hid under the covers on Faith’s bed, I hid under the bed, and Faith sat in the corner. My mom burst into the room shouting “Where is Brianna?!” I guess she saw my leg sticking out from under the bed, because all of the sudden I felt a tight grip around my ankle and I was dragged out from under my protector. I had never seen this side of my mom before, she was swearing up a storm. She stood back, muttered some more cuss words, and through her teeth she told me, “You are going to be in so much trouble in the morning”. She spoke correctly too. So that is the story of just about the only time I have ever got in trouble.

8

A Special Birthday

I have had many special birthdays so it’s impossible for me to simply pick one. One of my birthday’s that was “special” was my fifth birthday. My family and I were living at a rental house while we waited for the people to move out of the house we were going to live in. This house was very old and quite unsafe if I say so. There was very steep staircase that croaked like a frog when you walked on it. So I had a birthday party with all of my friends from school, and I don’t know, I was probably trying to show off for them. I stood about halfway up the staircase and said that I could fly, and of course I fell and toppled down the rest of the way. Near the bottom there was a coffee table that I managed to bang into. With that, I broke my right arm! That was a special birthday indeed. My birthday the next year was just as good. I had gotten a new scooter, which I wanted so desperately. Unwrapping this gift, I was very excited. Right away I took it out for a little joy ride. I was so enthralled with it, riding so fast, I didn’t notice the rock that I was about to run over. I still remember laying in my neighbor’s driveway gripping my arm in pain. So I broke my right arm a second time, both times on my birthday. Definitely two special birthdays I will never forget.

9

A Positive/Negative Story From School

I am friends with everyone, all different groups of people. It has been this way for as long as I can remember. There was a time though in middle school, where I did end up picking sides. It was in sixth grade, and in sixth grade there was heaps of drama. Everybody fought like cats going at it. So I was friends with two different groups of people, and of course, these two cliques didn’t like each other. Constantly I was going back and forth in between these two groups, trying to make each one happy. It finally got to a point where I could not handle it anymore. I had to pick one or the other. For the rest of the year, I lost those friends who I didn’t “choose.” I was sad, but more angry at my friends for making me choose sides. Sometime in the beginning of seventh grade we all realized how dumb this was, and for the most part, everybody became friends with everybody. Then, more drama crept up on us, like a lion hunting its prey. Then the middle school guidance counselor came up with an idea. His idea was The Impact Box. Anybody could write down their problems and stick it in the box, and Mr. Lang would give you advice on how to solve your problems. This actually worked, until students started putting stupid notes in the box. All in all, we all realized how immature we acted, and I am still friends with all different groups of people. This also shows that our middle school guidance counselors never really helped with any of the problems we had.

10