Looking in that photo album, I see--
A very skinny, gangly kid, with a mop of dirty, un-combed hair. I was definitely the ugly duckling of my class, but luckily I grew into the buck teeth, ran a comb through my hair, and got contacts. Thinking back, I don't remember feeling dowdy or ugly-I was accepted for who I was, flaws and all. I think I made up for my appearance in personality. I have always been a jokester and a comic and people gravitated towards my energy. Sure, I could have never done stand-up comedy as a living, but my close group of friends got me and thought I was hilarious.
As I flip through the photo albums more, I see a girl who is desperately trying to fit in with the boys. I remember having a falling out with my girl friends and I decided that boys were less catty anyways. So, I bought some Adidas sneakers with the 3 stripes on the side, and wore baggy t-shirts/pants. I played basketball, softball, soccer, cross-country and track; I enjoyed every single minute.
As I flip further through the photo albums, my pictures start to fade and I am barely in the albums, except maybe at holidays or birthdays. I figure the reason for this is once you move out, you start missing out on family life and all the events that families attend together. When I was 18, I didn't care that I was gonna miss out on these outings, I was ready to explore the world, move out, and become rich and famous. While I have successfully moved out, my other aspirations are merely a dream, which I hope to one day fulfill.
I'd break something this long into bite-size pieces: paragraphs. The different stages you describe make clear break-points for new paragraphs.
ReplyDeleteYou do a nice job taking us through the photo album, offering just enough detail to allow us to visualize (you'd be astonished at how many people talk about photos without ever taking the trouble to describe them, to show them to the reader!)
So, I think this handles the prompt with not too much, not too little, and is just right.