Ten Years

What can happen in ten years?

You can get your ears pierced.
You can move.
You can invent 3D movies.
You can make 10 new friends.
You can outgrow a passport.
You can learn to cook.
You can invent Facebook.
You can forget your kindergarten enemy.
You can forget how mad you were that one time.
You can forget what that shirt looked like.
You can forget the disagreement with your sister.

But there are some things you cannot forget.

September 11, 2001.

Smoke.
Fire.
Fear.
Silence.

Great, loud, looming, shocked silence.

Unity.
Tears.
Tragedy.
Unison.

Breathing.
Whispering.
Wailing.
Balking.

Grandmas calling.
Mommas crying.
Children wondering.

What happened? What was so great? So terrible? What had happened that was so big the whole world stopped to watch?

There are lots of ways to say it; each one makes your stomach clench, your mind flinch, your heart squeeze.

Nine-eleven. 9-11. September 11. The World Trade Center. The Twin Towers.

It's funny trying to remember a time before it happened. It's funny because we will never forget what happened, but we've already forgotten what it was like before.

Remember when middle-eastern people didn't look scary?
Remember when you could walk right onto an airplane without checking bags?
Remember when the word "terrorism" was foreign?
Remember when America felt like the safest place in the world?

I was seven when it happened; I barely remember those things. But I do remember. What's sad is the kids I know who don't.

The nine-year-old girl I babysit can’t remember a time before Nine-Eleven. She doesn't remember when middle-eastern people were just people. She doesn't remember not having extensive airplane security. She doesn't remember not knowing what "terrorism" is. She doesn't remember thinking that America was invincible.

It's been ten years. America is growing again, in some good directions, and in some bad, but she is growing. That's the only thing she can do. People may try to strike her down, but the values she stands for--Freedom, Equality, Bravery, Honor, Justice--will endure forever, as long as the people defend them.

And that's what we will do. No matter what happens, no matter who tries to derail us, we will stand strong for our God-given rights and for WHAT is right. We will remember not only Nine-Eleven, but everything before that, everything our founding fathers stood for.

On this anniversary of the great American tragedy, don't just remember the Twin Towers. Remember why they were destroyed, and uphold those values all the stronger.

In ten years, a lot can happen, but some things you never forget.

And some of those things you never should.

~Kendra

Two Dead Boys Poem

Early one morning, late one night.
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other.
Drew their swords, and shot each other.
The deaf policeman heard the noise
And came and shot the two dead boys.
If you don't believe this lie is true,
Go ask the blind man, he saw it too.

My dad used to recite that poem to me when I was little :) I loved it and it recently came back to mind.

It's kind of awesome, isn't it?

~Kendra

Remembering and Overwhelming

Even before Question Day, I'd like to say something very important:

Eight years ago today, something terrible happened. Evil poluted the minds of some people, and the result was death and destruction for thousands. We can't forget it, no matter how horrible it was.

The more terrible a thing is, the more it needs to be remembered, lest history repeat itself.

So let's all pause a moment and remember. Remember those who died on September 11th.
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Question Day:

This question brought to you by: Moon Shaw!

Question: "How many sports do you play?"
Answer: Hmm...WELL >:D

I played T-ball from the time I was four until I was about six, maybe seven.

When I was seven, I started playing soccer, and LOVED it, even though I have won a grand total five games (no joke) in my entire eight year's worth of playing (not counting last year when we were undefeated, lol).

Some of my friends got into tennis when I was like ten, so I played a season of that. Loved it, but I wasn't serious enough to continue with matches and stuff.

At age eleven, I tried out basketball, but since I'd never played before, I had no idea what was going on >.< All my sports knowledge was based on soccer. I never figured out that in basket ball, you play offense AND defense depending on what side of the court you're on.

The spring after that, I did softball. That would have been okay if we had one at least ONE game (we didn't) and our pitchers could get the ball over the plate (they couldn't)...

I've been dancing since I was two and a half.

So, to make a LOOOOOOOOOONG-could-have-been-short and answer short, I play soccer and dance (tap, ballet, and jazz/hip-hop) and I LOVE them both. I would be horrified if I had to chose between them (although dance would win in a heart beat).
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I got all my school work (except Latin...) done today! YAY! Latin is killing me. I used to be so good at it! I think I just got too comfortable with it, and stopped working on it. Then all the hard stuff came at once and now I'm so overwhelmed I don't want to start trying again :-/

I have play practice tonight for the first time since Sunday! Yay! And then I have it again tomorrow at 10am. Then I have a soccer game at 2pm.

Then I have play practice Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Then I have it Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Including on Lizzy's THIRTEENTH birthday, AND her special birthday dinner! *MOAN*

I have so much going on! Soccer practice, dance classes, play practice, soccer games, school, babysitting, writing.

*shriek/moan of agony*

The problem is I LOVE it all! Love it! There's no way at ALL I will EVER give up dance (EVER), and soccer is only for a few weeks. I love the play and I want to do more later. School isn't really a quitable option, lol! I physically CANNOT stop writing, Like, I really CAN'T. Babysitting is so much. I love kids, I love being around lots of friends, and I love having extra "brothers" and "sisters".

*moan*

Sorry. I'm dumping.

No writing to speak of.

Cavender is grounded :(

Byee :D

~Kendra (my signature is being stupid and did something weird that caused this post to be erased FOUR TIMES. Yes. FOUR. You are reading the FIFTH time I have written this same stinkin' thing. FIFTH!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!)

Fact...or Fiction?

Weird Fact Day!

*GASP* I just had a better idea!! :O :O :O What if I change this to Fact or Fiction Day, and you have to guess whether or not the fact is, uh, Fact or Fiction! First person to guess it right gets an award, and everyone who guesses at all gets and award, too.

Ready?

Fact or Fiction? In Missouri, a man must have a permit to shave.

(No fair Googling it -.-)
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Today Lizzy and my dad and I went shopping for my mom's birthday, which is tomorrow. We got some good stuff, but I didn't quite finish all my school work because of the shopping trip. But, hey, for my mom, it's worth it :)

My mom is one of those people who tries to do everything, and is good at everything, too. She speed-walks seven (I think) miles every day, comes home, works out, then homeschools Lizzy and sort of me, and does her job, which is being the state manager for the company Classical Conversations. She's also really involved at church, including singing in the church band.

She's also an amazing speaker. She's inspirational, and clear. She helps people see the big picture, and how they can get there.

She's good at pretty much every subject in school (physics isn't really her thing, though). She's a great mom, as well as being a great person in general. Happy almost-birthday, Momma!

If she even read that. Which I doubt :P

Anyway, life is pretty good at the moment. Can't really complain, I guess.

I started watching Disney's Alice in Wonderland for the first time in eleven years yesterday. It's not a little kid's movie at all! It's really quite thought-provoking if you want to get into all the symbolism and questions asked. The idea of a world where everything is nonsense in itself has incredible discussion possibilities.

We're reading the book this year in school, and I can't wait to discuss it.

XD I'm such a nerd.

There hasn't been much writing action lately. I've had lots of ideas, but nothing has made it onto paper, or the computer screen, yet.

I have two things to remind you of:

1. Followers Say...On Carpe Noctem is coming up in September! Let me know if you want to do it.

2. Questions for Question Day are always welcome ;)

I hope I don't sound like a broken record...

Anyway, if you want to guess whether the fact is Fact or Fiction, leave a comment! Thanks for reading, y'all! You're the best.

Oh.

Em.

Gee.

I just did the tag that Bethany tagged me in, and now it's not showing up. I am not kidding. I just spent like twenty minutes on it, and it's, like, deleted. *ISMADISMADISMAD*

Sorry, Bethan, but I don't feel like doing it again right this sec. I'll do it later.

*moan* Blogger can be so retarded.

Something of Substance

Posting about how I used to post "deeper" stuff made me think about changing. More specifically, ME changing.

When you're little, it seems like you never do. I mean, there doesn't seem to be much change between age four and five, or really six or seven either. And on your birthday, when people as "How does it feel to be fifteen?" Or fourteen, or seven, or eighty-nine, etc. Your answer is always (or at least mine was): "Fine. Not much different." So (follow me on this, okay? Logical syllogism coming through), if four is the same-feeling as five, and five is the same-feeling as six, then four and six are the same-feeling, too, right? And then if six is the same-feeling as seven, and seven is the same-feeling as eight, then it would seem that four and eight are the same-feeling, too!

But that can't be right! Surely there's a difference between four and eight! Everyone knows there is. Plenty of differences.

Okay, so there ARE differences. But they don't apparenly take place on your actual birthday when you are officially a year older. They must be gradual changes throughout the year. Which sort of sucks because then we'll never be able to recognize them, right?

Well.

A little over a year ago (on December 16th, 2007), I decided to conduct a little experiment. On myself. (Bwahahaha) You know those annoying fill-outs that you get in your email about every three weeks? You know what I mean. The ones that ask: What's your favorite color? Where were you born? How many houses have you lived in? What's your least favorite food? Do you wash your hair with grape scented shampoo or cherry? And blah blah blah.

Well.

I combined a bunch of those quizzes in my journal. I created my own ultimate fill-out. It was over 100 questions. Then I filled it out (duh). And I started journaling. I wrote in my journal every day (almost) for an entire year. And I made it a rule that I COULD NOT read over any past journal entries. Once the page was flipped, it STAYED flipped. Until a year had passed. I wasn't "allowed" to read my journal until December 16th 2008.

Well, it was supposed to be just one journal. I actually filled up ten whole journals before the year was up. Yeah. TEN.

When the year was up, I went back to that very first journal and copied the questions of the fill out into the journal I was writing in. I didn't look at my answers, I just copied the fill out. Then I filled it out (duhhh). Then I compared answers to PROVE to myself that I DO change over the course of a year. And once I had confirmed that I had changed, I could go back and read through the journals and analyze when exactly the different changes had taken place.

I was actually surprised. I changed in more ways than I knew, and in more subtle ways than I would have guessed. It was a really interesting experiment, and I "learned" a lot. I also really like having all my memories written down. I'll never lose them that way. Even if I forget, I still have a way to remember.

You should be able to tell by now that memories and remembering are very important to me. One of my biggest fears is simply "forgetting." I dislike change, in any way, shape or form, so it's important to me that I at least REMEMBER the way things used to be. Change is the worst when you feel like things were JUST FINE the way they were, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I've been through countless changes that took me from my "perfect" life to a "totally crappy" one.

The bad thing is, I never seem to be able to recognize my having the "perfect" life until I've moved on to the "crappy" one. I'm terrible at not living in the moment. I always live in the past. At least I used to. I'm getting better.

But it IS hard to let go of things that I loved so much. Mostly I'm thinking about people. Not really stuff or places, although moving was pretty big and I still wake up confused sometimes. Every time I think things are great and I'm finally doing/being/having what I want, BOOM! stuff just HAS to change.

Which is why it's important to realize how good you have it BEFORE it gets worse. And then, the "worse" will eventually seem pretty cool. (And then stuff changes again, but whatever :D) The trouble is just recognizing when you've got it good. Things can always get better, but they can get worse, too, so live in the moment once in a while. Enjoy what you've got. Cause sooner or later,

it's gonna be gone.