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My Favorite Person (My Montauk)I am a family girl to the core. Every activity my parents would take me to, my family would be there, specifically my grandpa. There is not an important moment in my short 17 years that he has not been there to experience. I started to see him even more when I got a job for the family business that he owned. Believe me when I say, he NEVER left the small little ice cream shop in the heart of Greenwood. This experience was particularly impactful to me, mostly because our conversations at work included small criticisms with my fiery attitude shooting back at him.
My parents figured there were some things I couldn’t learn just from them. So from the time I was born, I would be at that little ice cream shop gazing helplessly at all of the workers wishing to grow up and work for my grandpa. I’d spend hours of my summer days coming to work with my mom, sitting on the coolers in the back chatting with my grandpa or drawing pictures of ice cream. As I grew up, this routine continued, but instead with more deep and academic conversations with my grandpa. Eventually I came all by myself to work, but in between the work, these traditions continued. This is where I learned how to make ice cream, where I learned how to work with others despite the fact that some of them were mean and lazy. This is where I learned to listen to others advice from engaging in timeless conversations with my favorite person—my grandpa. This is where I learned the importance of really not “judging a book by its cover;” how to appreciate what I have while I can because one day it may all be gone. Time goes to my childhood at the ice cream shop to take a break. It swirls in and out of the shop as workers make drippy ice cream cones on a hot summer day. It bustles through the various customers as they wait patiently (or impatiently) in line. It sits my grandpa down in his blue chair out front while he talks to strangers and the occasional friend--How are you? We have been so busy since the day we opened and business is doing well. Order a hotdog too! They’re from New York! Time stalls at my grandpa’s little ice cream shop. I am seven years old. I am an only child coming to work with my mom. I tear down boxes that had supplies in them. I use the cardboard to make little planes and boats to travel to unknown wonders I thought of. All while my grandpa sits on his little stool watching and laughing with me. My mom looks back at me and smiles and says “my silly girl.” When I am bored of that, I grab the markers from the shelf and lay on the cooler drawing whatever I could think of. If it was ice cream related, my grandpa was sure to hang it up so everyone could see it. That year, I knew I had an imagination that wouldn’t go away. I am twelve years old. Now I am in middle school, forming new friendships all while being a gymnast. This year I didn’t come to work much with mom, but when I did, I started having in depth conversations with my grandpa about school and my struggles as a twelve year old. He told me to “stop growing up! It’s moving too fast.” I didn’t listen to him as I wanted to grow up already and drive. This year my mom and grandpa let me secretly make my own ice cream cones or razzles even. Small things like that helped me grow to the woman I am today. That year, I shifted from my childlike self to a more mature version of myself. I am fourteen years old. I am finally at the legal working age! I couldn’t be more happy to start my job working in the small little ice cream shop along my family. Little did I know that working is harder than it looks. You can’t just go through the motions of it all. I learned for the first time that not everything can be perfect when I spilt ice cream all over the floor. My luck, my grandpa walked in right at that instant and yelled at me to clean it up. He had never really yelled at me until I spilt vanilla ice cream all over the floor and cooler. It was an accident, but he just wanted to make sure I learned from my mistakes. That year, my grandpa taught me that just because I'm the granddaughter of the owner, doesn’t mean I will be favored—it means he will be the hardest on me. There are just some things you cannot learn from your parents alone. There are lessons to be found from the experiences and talks with other people, lessons from working for the first time, and lessons in the ice cream messes. Parents won’t always be there, finding wisdom in others is what gets one through life. I am seventeen now. The ice cream shop is still there. The memories are still there. But the one thing that has changed is the owner. It isn't my grandpa anymore, but my uncle. While it is still in the family, nothing feels the same anymore. I can’t go there and not see my grandpa sitting in his chair out front greeting people. I can’t go there without imagining our long conversations we had with each other. I can’t work and get yelled at for stupid things anymore. He is just a memory now. That thought resonates with me everytime I step foot there now. My grandpa made one mistake that has shifted so many things around in this family, but that doesn’t make me love him any less. The ice cream shop will forever be the place of my childhood. The place where I learned so many different things. And the place where I learned to love my grandpa the most despite what everyone else says. While this is a poem, I believe that it is most fitting in my "Struggles" section rather than my poetry section. This was one of my favorite pieces to write and renders the most with me. My grandpa has had a huge impact on my life, and the world has chosen to let one mistake define him, so I wrote this poem for him, outlining all of our memories while also showing how I have struggled with this situation in the last stance. I hope you enjoyed this poem.
Wrong TimeDo you ever feel like things happen at the wrong time? Well this weekend I ended up getting the flu and it was awful. It was the nicest weekend all winter and I was hoping I could go golfing until my body had a different plan for me. Everyone was outside enjoying this beautiful weather while I was sitting inside binge watching my favorite tv show, Gilmore Girls. While it is nice to sometimes have some down time, I was not having it this weekend. I urged to go outside and just hit golf balls or go be with my friends, but I knew all of that would just make me sicker. On top of all of that I cannot even go to school tomorrow (I am writing this on a Sunday and tomorrow is Monday). I absolutely HATE missing school because it means I am missing out on important lessons and that I am going to have tons of makeup work due when I get back. I am also supposed to start my new job on Tuesday, so I am stressing over that too because my body decided to get sick at the wrong time. That's all for my rant today, I am just angertated
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