My Best Friend

My Best Friend... I really don't like the sound of that. By choosing one friends as the "best" it automatically excludes every other friend. Instead of writing about a best friend, I'm going to write about one of my best friends. My BFF Naomi has many talents, including playing the violin. She's always been an orchestra geek :). She also does rowing, and although I've never actually seen her do it, I'm guessing she's pretty good. One thing Naomi and I do together in the summer is take sailing classes at the OYC, which is a lot of fun. We also enjoy playing The Legends of Zelda: The Wind Waker and feeling like total nerds, embarrassing ourselves in public, riding scooters around town, watching Phineas and Ferb, and laughing at inside jokes!

Naomi and I have been friends since the 1st grade, when we were both new at our elementary school and didn't have any other friends. We became best friends from the start, always having play dates and playing together at recess. Naomi has always been there; through the the Pokemon stage, the Kim Possible stage, the Dog-loving stage, the art-freak stage, and many more. No matter where our interests drifted, we always drifted there together.

My Earliest Memory

My earliest memory is very clear to me. At the time my family was living in our house in Shelton, Washington, before we moved here to Olympia. I must have been around two-years-old because I was still sleeping in a crib. When I was little, I never wanted to go to sleep without holding onto my mom or dad's hand and rubbing their fingers. It sounds weird now, but it was a huge comfort to me. In fact, my sleeping habits got so bad that my parents would keep a pillow under my bed. Every night one of my parents would lay on the floor with their pillow and stick one of their hands through the bars of my crib until I fell asleep.

I can remember my very first memory like it was yesterday. I am laying in my crib. The crib was white and had small blue and pink teddy bears on the sheets. I sat up and looked through the bars of the crib and saw my mom on the ground sleeping. This is the earliest memory of mine, and it is very special to me because it shows how much my parents love me, even if that means staying up late holding my hand and sleeping on the ground. I'm glad that I have this as my earliest memory because at least my parents will know that all that time staying up with me has been remembered and appreciated.

The Bean Trees: Motif

Throughout The Bean Trees, by Brabara Kingsolver, motif is overwhelmingly used. The entire book focuses on one main symbol: Motherhood. The entire book is based on difficult family situations and the strives that these women have to make while trying to protect their children. Without this strong motif, the book would have no purpose. Even though it was just only a story, the characters and their feelings towards each other amazed me.

Although not one character had an easy life, they all found ways to love their lives and be grateful for what they had. One of the characters, a women named Esperanza, had her baby taken by a neighboring country during war. Through these tough times, although she was scarred forever, she still found ways to love life and be thankful for what she had. Another women named Taylor was unexpectenly given a Indian child while on the Cherrokee Indian Reservation. Her astonishment was something completely expected. To my suprise, Taylor cared for the baby like she was her own, and even though having the baby changed her life forever, she remained positive and happy. One other women who had mothering troubles was LouAnn. Her husband left her right after she had her baby, and although she was always hurt by this, she ended up becoming a wonderful mother and became happier than she had ever been.

I believe that the stongest element in the story is definately motif. Although there is some imagery, motif is used much more often. I love the motif in this story because I love books that have to do with motherhood and children. This book was definately a fun read and was very easy to get attached to the characters and their lives. I was upset when I finished this wonderful book!