Lesser Off: Personal Narrative

My whole life I’ve felt like an outsider. When I was younger dealing with a learning disability, I have had a hard time making and keeping friends even to this day. I struggle with being a follower instead of a leader. My own adoptive father verbally abused me growing up and I also had kids in fifth-sixth grade who constantly bullied me. I still am reminded of an instance when the first day of fifth grade approached: I got on the bus and these older girls started making fun of my pants saying, “She’s wearing high-waters.” I was humiliated in front of my peers every day since than during those two years. After being bullied for so long I made a vow to myself to never forget the pain inflicted upon me on a daily basis.

In 2025, I will be twenty-nine years old and hopefully married. I will be married to my significant other of ten years Earnest Palmer III, who is a dentist. I would have been recently graduating with a bachelor’s in Culinary Arts and trying to plan to open my own restaurant, BubbaD’s Eateries. Knowing my big headed husband of mine, I probably had a baby then and trying to have another baby. Hopefully, by then Earnest will get rid of the idea naming our son, King. We will be living in the suburbs near New York City but working in the city. Being a woman with great memory, I probably wrote a memoir about my crazy life and trying to sell it to a publisher. If none of the publishers wants to publish my memoir, I will probably sell it the Lifetime

I never thought I would be labeled an outsider, a misfit even. As I trudged my way through the halls of my small town high school, I would endure the gazing pairs of eyes, that belonged to my peers, followed by whispering and often times some laughter. I always used zone out during those repetitive speeches and commercials about the effects of gossiping and rumors; never did I imagine that one day I would be on the receiving end of of the everyday potshot. Growing up I was always the center of attention, the one everyone yearned to be friends with, never was I the antisocial child in the corner with nowhere to turn… not until high school. They say high school changes you. They say high school accounts for some of the greatest years of

There I was on the block next to the High Bar. It was about 5:00 at night when my coach told me to do a Kip. As I got up on the bar my nose filled with the smell of chalk. I started to swing, and as I came out of my half turn I looked good. Everything seemed fine but as I came to the part of the Kip where I have to pull my legs up to the bar, I slammed my shins into the bar. My momentum was stopped and I dropped on to the mat, missing the Kip. I felt like I had let down my coach and I had let down myself too. That day I experienced failure. That failure made me want my Kip even more so I worked harder and had support from my teammates.

I’ve always been an outsider, it’s been hard for me to build friendships and relationships. Not too long ago, there I sat in the corner of the room in the way back, trying to hide from the world, and be myself. I didn’t really want to get involved with anything or anyone. I was afraid to open up, talk to others, maybe because I was afraid to get rejected. Until, I met the best people I could ever meet, my best friends Marisa Mendoza, Jessica Contreras and Deseray Reyes, the ones who up to this day have sticked by my side, at my best, and worst moments. They have all been a big part of my life, I can enjoy every minute I spend with them. For me, they aren’t only my friends they are like my sisters.

When it comes to what separates me from other teenagers, there would be quite a bit to tell. I would say a major difference which separates me from my peers is my love for barbershop harmony music. I do not have a quartet of my own; however, I love to sing barbershop tags with other friends at church. I set myself apart from the world because of my beliefs: as a New Testament christian, I believe the bible gives us all instruction concerning spiritual matters.

Who knew that things could change so abruptly, it almost felt that my whole world was flipped within a blink of an eye. Things were going to be different from now on, the people, the weather, even the fresh summer breeze from the coast will soon become a cold bitter winter breeze. This all came to my mind when my mom announced to my family that we’re moving, to New Jersey, once my school goes on summer break. At first, I began to panic, why do we have to move? Why can’t we just live here? We don’t even know anyone there, except for my aunt. We just moved here three years ago from New Jersey, and we didn’t like it, that’s why we only lived there for a month. Then why would we would we like it now? I question my mom, and I demanded explanations

Growing up with a father in the military, you move around a lot more than you would like to. I was born just east of St. Louis in a city called Shiloh in Illinois. When I was two years old my dad got the assignment to move to Hawaii. We spent seven great years in Hawaii, we had one of the greatest churches I have ever been to name New Hope. New Hope was a lot like Olivet's atmosphere, the people were always friendly and there always something to keep someone busy. I used to dance at church, I did hip-hop and interpretive dance, but you could never tell that from the way I look now.

Unfortunately I won't be in class today I'm stuck in the hospital once again with an upper respiratory infection and the flu my throat closed up Saturday night so there keeping me the until Thursday to make sure I'm okay. But just to make sure today in class where going over Russia and China right? And I'm not sure because I don't have my paper was there something about extra credit?

After settling in and having a light lunch we discussed our plan for the day. For our first day in paradise, we had decided to spend it on the beach. After seeing what it had to offer earlier that morning no one objected. The warm, salty air streamed through the open windows of the car as we cruised to the water. Eager to wade into the calm, soft, waves, I plucked my snorkel and goggles from my bag. No matter how deep I went, I could still see straight to the bottom. On the bottom, I found dozens of colorful shells, one starfish that had submerged itself under the sand, and a few schools of shimmering fish that would dart away when I attempted to catch them with a net.

harder things. If that goes well then I might change it to every day. If I succeed in doing my challenge then I’ll reward myself in some manner, most likely by hanging out with friends and doing something a little more special with them. My first challenge will be talking to someone I don’t know on the bus or at the store. After that, I’ll think of my next challenge for next week and so on making each new week progressively more

Watching her coffin sink into the abyss beneath my feet sent me into hysterics. Tears streamed down my face like a ferocious river escaping a dam. I’d come to the realization that I had never lived my life without her. What would I do? It is obvious to me now that I inadvertently disrupted the entire service with my loud sobbing, but in that moment of time, it was the only thing I could do.

Introspection and ponderance devolved into a turbulence of chaos as the world around me was drowned out by a loud rhythmic beating, saturating the very essence of my reality. My body yearned for stimulus and motility as my restraint teetered on the cusp of failure. All sense of time was lost and what seemed like an aeon was a mere thirty-minutes. I emerged from the MRI room with a sense of confidence and optimism, but I would be dishonest to say that I was not consumed with the anxiety of anticipation.

What if you were stuck in an apartment late at night, no light, no food, no nothing? Would you freak out? Would you cry? What would you do?

That night the men did not work at sea. While the men went to find out if anyone was missing in neighboring villages, the women stayed behind to care for the drowned man. The woman took the mud off with grass swabs, they removed the underwater stones entangled in his hair, and washed him with soap and water. As they were doing that we noticed that the vegetation on him came from faraway oceans and that his clothes were in tatters, as if he had sailed through labyrinths of coral. But only when they finished cleaning him off did we become aware of the kind of man he was and it left them breathless. He was the tallest, strongest, most virile, and best built man we had ever seen.