Effect Essay Rewrite

 

My parents got divorced when I was around the age of 8.  Following the divorce I don't think my dad and I spent more than 5 days together, I never needed, wanted or expected anything from him. That's until I turned 17, got my driver's license and wanted a car. This is when I decided to play the dad vs. mom game that all us children of divorce like to do. I decided that this would be a great opportunity to ask my dad for something, considering the fact that he pretty much missed everything of my childhood. I spent the next two weeks talking to my dad pretty much every day and somehow managed to swindle him into buying me a brand new Honda Civic. 

Well I got my car and life was great. I was happy as a clam to be driving around and I felt like I had done the smart thing by sweet talking my dad into buying it for me. However, looking back I know things were not as they seemed, the whole experience changed me. It had a lasting effect on my life because It was the first time I have ever pushed a little too far and manipulated someone into doing something for me. My innocence was gone and I was left with a cold, sorrowful heart because of what I had done in order to get that shiny new car I had wanted so badly. I know that innocence doesn't last too long in this day of age but it saddens me to think that the first person I "used" was my father.

 I feel like having my dad buy me the car and then leaving him emotionally high and dry was something that put a huge strain on our relationship. Granted, our relationship was never anything more than a birthday phone call and cards in the mail every once in a while, but I have the feeling that he had hope for us after all that time I spent talking to him. We have never been able to fix that estranged relationship and in my opinion it is even worse off than it ever was when I was in my youth.

To this day I still feel extreme guilt about the entire car situation. Not only do I feel bad about making my dad feel like he owed me something but I also feel guilty about how I treated him afterwards. I pretty much used him and forgot about him for a long time after. Even though I am proud to say that I have never done that to anyone else it is still something I am not proud of. There is nothing worse than feeling ashamed and unfortunately that is probably the biggest thing holding me back from communicating with my dad.

All in all this I have had to come to terms with what I did. Teenage years are really hard years to navigate and I hope that my parents both expected a little bit of bad decision making. In my book I have to just chalk this up to stupid, selfish, teenage behavior and call it a day. I'm sure that one of my three children will do something of the same sorts to me someday, and that will probably be the day that I truly forgive myself.

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Process essay intro (Revised)

A few years ago my husband and I decided that we wanted to have an emergency kit in our home. Leaders in my religion have been asking us to try and prepare 72 hour kits to have in case of disaster, and it can never hurt to be prepared.  I know a lot of people who do have them already but we had never taken the time to make our own. There is a basic order of what should go into a disaster kit and then people decide what will or will not work for them, we decided to just take a section at a timeFirst we had to decide on whether to make my own kit or if we should just buy a pre-made kit. Then we had to think about what exactly we felt necessary to have in our kit.  Lastly, we had to figure out how much money we were willing and able to spend to make our kit. .

Timed Effect Essay

 

                    Everybody has a road of life story. It's inevitable that we as human beings will be forced to make choices throughout our life. Hopefully we have been raised and taught well enough that we can see the right from the wrong and pick the appropriate one. It's my opinion that there is three ways to travel through your life, there is the simple choice of going with the flow, there is the exciting choice of traveling the low road and then there is the harder, sometimes lonely high road. I have never been one for a challenge but I have somehow been able to stick it out on the high road.
                   Always choosing the high road has had a huge effect on the amount of friends I have. I don't think I have to explain how hard it is to fit in at high school when you are a straight laced Mormon girl. Now that I am old enough to look back at those horrible 4 years of my life, I thank my lucky stars that I stood my ground when it came to drugs, drinking and parties. When your in high school you feel like that is going to be your life forever, you don't see a way out. I decided to choose the high road and make smart choices of who I hung out with ( however small that group was) and what "extracurricular" activities I participated in.
                   Becoming pregnant at 18 and un-married had a huge impact on my life. I obviously had veered of that high road I had been doing so well with. I was pressured by a lot of important people in my life to give up the baby and move on with my life. I had goals and was busy working towards accomplishing them when I hit a little pot hole on the road of life  and detoured off for a bit. I made the biggest choice of my life by deciding to keep the baby and get married, and this was a direct effect of my earlier choice to try and choose the high road at all times and in all places. I never regretted that decision, despite the negativity I received from my family members. 
                     Choosing to marry my husband after I found out I was pregnant could have been a huge mistake. I really don't know why I felt so confident to do so. I was being faced with lots of opposition from my family who all thought I was way to young to get married and that there was no possible way that our marriage would ever work out. Eight years later we are still together. It hasn't been all roses and buttercups but we have made it through. I choose to take the high road when I decided to get married. I knew it would be more work than just walking away and either raising the baby alone or giving him up for adoption. Marriage is hard, if someone tells you otherwise, they are lying. But we take it day by day, month by month and year by year.
                    The Roads of life are bumpy. They are filled with more pot holes, detours and curves than any of the roads I've encountered, and that's saying a lot since I live in the sticks of Maine.  I have been lucky enough to know the road I must take. I  know my ultimate destination and can only hope that I continue to choose the right route to take in order to arrive safely at the end. Everyone and anyone can successfully travel the roads of life. It helps to have a partner in crime though, even if it was a marriage set up for failure! ( He, He)