Today my family is having a garage sale to get rid of a bunch of junk before we move away in two months. Prior to the sale, I had to go through my boxes in our storage closet. I found old treasures, like the nursing kit my dad got me (when that’s what I wanted to be when I grew up), a music box that plays “It’s a Small World,” a book of Beauty and the Beast that has a note to me from my mom on my sixth birthday (she wrote about having God inside me, and that’s how I’ll find “the beauty that comes from within”…of course, she wrote all this in cursive, so I had no idea what it said)….
I also found crates and crates of old school papers. I found a story I wrote called “The Perfect Dalmation” [sic]. I don’t know when I wrote it. Below are my attempts to show you the illustrations I drew along with the text. I will copy the words just as I wrote them.
One day an angel came to a dog. The dog was brown. It always wanted to be a dalmation.
Then the angel tapped her wand on the dog. And it fell asleep. Then when it woke up the dog was a dalmation!
So the next day it showd all it’s friends. And they thouht that she was ugly. And they made fun of her.
And after that boy did she cry! She cryd! And cryd! And cryd! That realy hurt her feelings.
She wanted to play with a ball. But she was to sad.
Now the perfect dalmation has no friends. But she can always make some. The end.
I have to laugh at the pitiful child who wrote that book. I started laughing at “boy did she cry!” and laughed even harder at “now the perfect dalmation has no friends.” I think this book accurately predicted what my life would be like from then on.
Too bad I couldn’t have expanded on the story, and made the moral that the brown dog didn’t need to become a “perfect dalmatian” so that everyone would like her. Maybe the brown dog’s friends wouldn’t have abandoned her if she had just been true to herself and not tried to change.
Number one, that is the hideoderousest dalmatian I have ever seen.
Number two, I saved that voicemail message because boy did I laff. I laffd! And laffd! And laffd!
Boy, aren’t you glad you saved that? I think it’s just precious. I have stuff like that of my boys and now scrapbook and have done some neat things with them. I loved this post a lot.
Joy
http://joyerickson.wordpress.com/
Thats so cute! I love the ending.
I hope you are okay. The last two entries were sad.
I must say this post does display your development as a writer! I think you should include that story in your portfolio:0)
It doesn’t look like your writing has developed all that much. After all, you ended the second to last paragraph in a preposition. Ouch.
I wonder what was going through your head when you wrote this story. Were you having a tough time in first grade? I love how you gave the dog a ribbon so we would know it was a girl.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story! I already knew your talent as a writer but this shows that you had a gift for writing at a very early age. You have shown your artistic ability in your cards but I didn’t know you could draw!
Mom made me and Liz go through all of my old school stuff. I always throw things away so I don’t know how I had a box full of it. I was quite the artist and writer…most of my stories were adventure mysteries though. Even as a kid you displayed a knack for nailing the “teen agnst” vibe.
The favorite thing I found in that box that I ended up saving was actually from college. I can’t think of the exact words right now…but the professor, after giving me an F, wrote that my report lacked everything that a good book report needs. I ended up passing the class with a B, but I still crack up every time I read that.
I can’t help but notice your story mentioned the dog’s friends making fun of her. Since you didn’t really have friends back then, I can only assume the inspiration of the dog’s troubles was from your older brothers David and Jon. What jerks.
Great story and what talent! I never doubted you could earn a living writing:)
Thanks for the picture of the yard sale, too.
Wow, I enjoyed reading your story and insightful reflection. It’s fun to look back on creative writing projects. I think we see a snapshot of our thoughts, experiences, and worldview during a totally different stage of life. Your story serves as a nice reminder that complex lessons learned during a simpler time still apply today.