Kayla Gibson 5th

I am going to tell you my life story as it happens. The things that happen I would think have improved on how I have acted toward others and more of the meaning of guilt when you did something you didn’t mean to do. The first thing that I remember was the time I shut my sister’s fingers in the door leading onto the porch. It was a fairly warm day and we had just come into the house to get some lunch. The house was cool as a spring day. I came into the house and was about to close the door and although I did not notice, my sister had her hand on the doorjamb as I closed the door. Since Abby is 20 months younger than I am, and a few inches shorter, I knew that the pain that she felt in her fingers would be bad.
As soon as I shut the door and my sister was holding her hand and was crying, I knew I had done something bad.
“I am soooo sorry. I didn’t mean to do it.” I said remorsefully and I knew that I couldn’t get rid of the pain that she felt.
“OW OW OW!” Abby was yelling.

I knew my dad would beat me for hurting Abby, so I raced around the house trying to get away from him.
Dad called to me while chasing me “Come here and apologize at once.”
I clambered up on my parents’ bed where the quilt on top was cool to the touch while the color of it remains unknown to me. I scrambled around on the bed trying to see if there would be some way for me to get away. There wasn’t. I was spanked for doing so.
“I’m sorry Abby.” I said.
She replied “Yeah. Apology accepted.”
However, she was still a little mad at me. I could tell by the tone of her voice, but I could not blame her.
After so, we ate lunch, which was more likely to be in silence. I remembered that with the most hate at what I did because I did not mean to do that. I was just closing the door, or so I thought until I noticed that Abby’s fingers were there. I remember that with some guilt I felt.
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The next thing that I remember, I was five and getting ready to go on a plane trip to Florida with my family. We packed very hastily the night before so that we could get everything we needed, but my sister and I needed mom’s help so we did not leave something important behind. I packed the clothes that mom had picked out into a suitcase that was a stuffed animal but that looked like a cow. My sister had her own suitcase that was horse shaped. The next day, we traveled the two hours to St. Louis to catch the plane we were to take to Florida. Since my parents had to carry car seats, we got board the plane first and get off first in the Florida airport. Landing in Florida was very different from what I had experienced before because I had never ridden in a plane before. Going into the airport, the momentum from the plane had me forward as the plane touched down then I sat myself upright. As soon as we got off the plane, we attempted to look for my grandparents, but with the mess of people, it was useless.
I yelled to Abby, “Race you to the stairs.” I raced Abby down the stairs that lead to the car parking where my grandparents were supposed to meet up, when we got through the mess.
My grandmother was already coming up the stairs as we were going down.
Abby and I both yelled “Grandma!” as we ran up to greet her and give her a hug.
I then asked, “Where’s Grandpa?” almost as quizzically because I was excited.
Grandma then replied, “Waiting in the car because we couldn’t find a parking.”
I did not question it because we found Grandpa waiting in the car out front. We got in the car, which was a white mini-van. We first went to their home where we were to be staying during our trip.
My grandmother asked my mom, “Are they going to need toys to play with?”
My mother replied “No. They will be just fine.”
Therefore, that was that. We went to a kind of a zoo that had manatees. I thought that watching them was somewhat cool, but I wanted to see them and not just in a pond where all you really see is green. As we were walking down a boardwalk, there was a snake. Of course, Abby and I ran ahead of the rest of my family.
My mom said, “Don’t move.”
I did not. Abby ran back to the rest of the group, I did not move at all during that, and eventually the snake slithered off into the vivid green grass next to the boardwalk. We went to a beach that I do not remember a lot about it. It was somewhat off the beaten path because not very many people were there that I saw. Mom saw a not yet opened clam.
Mom called over to Abby and I, “Come here and look at this,” she said.
Abby and I ran over to where mom was and quizzically asked “What?”
Mom then picked up the clam and showed us.
Abby and I wanted to keep it, but mom said, “No, we can’t take it home because it needs to be in the ocean and when it’s not, it will die.”
Abby and I were disappointed but we thought it was for the best. I crouched down close to the water but was on the edge of the beach and I got the edge of my shorts wet. Mom threw the clam back into the water and we headed to a Conservation Department that had some mini shops there with some already packed seashells, stuffed animals, and other things. As we walked into the building, there was a sudden, cool blast of air since it was in the middle of the summer. There was a stand in the middle of the ground floor, which had a ton of packaged seashells. Mom each got Abby and I one. It was getting close to three o’ clock and we headed for my grandparents’ house. After we came back from a restaurant, Abby, Grandma, and I went on a walk where we saw a beautiful sunset. The night was cool for being in the middle of summer. We got back from our walk, Abby and I mostly energized since at the age of five, many things you do are fun. After a little while of talking and coloring, Abby and I went to bed with a few new stuffed animals. The next day we went to a zoo. We have to watch otters go and get meat on a slide and we saw a very large and old alligator named Big Joe. There at the gift shop is where mom bought Abby and I a stuffed animal that was an alligator. It was a swamp green and it said Florida on its’ back in yellow letters. When we went home, we would have to leave the next day to catch our flight back to St. Louis. We made sure that we had all of our items that we had bought, and we packed the rest of our clothes. After dinner, Abby, Grandma, and I went on a walk and came back. After a while, Abby and I went to bed so we could get up early the next morning. The next morning, we got what stuff we did not get packed the night before, we packed in our suitcases, ate breakfast, and got in the car to go back to the airport. The ride there was boring.
As we got to the airport, Abby and I stated excitedly “goodbye!”
We got out of the car. Grabbed our things and went through the whole process again with checking in our bags, going the boarding area, and getting on. On the plane was as boring as coming to Florida. When the plane touched down on the tarmac, it was rough, and then it smoothed out like the feel of silk. We hurriedly got off the plane, found our bags and found the car in the parking lot. After we got home, Abby and I were tired, and after dinner, we went to bed.
About a week later, grandma sent us a post card that had an alligator on the cover of it. It stated that the big alligator we saw, Big Joe, had died right after we left. That is what I remembered about Florida.
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The next thing that was either something that I remember that was important was the time that I learned how to drive a larger lawn tractor. When I was eight, Abby and I used to drive around on a little lawn mower that we did not use for mowing the lawn because it had the mower deck off it.
When we got good at driving that, Dad said, “Why don’t you get on the tractor and drive around the shop”
I replied “Okay” with a wavering voice because I was nervous.
The tractor did not have any paint on it other than a steel gray primer on the main part of it, and the headlights had some brown primer on it so it was somewhat mismatched. I got on the tractor. I was somewhat nervous because I had not ever driven anything bigger than a lawn mower. I went through the steps that you were supposed to follow since that was how Dad taught me. I made sure that the tractor was out of gear, I stepped on the clutch, put it into first gear, and let the clutch up slowly. We slowly mode our way around the shop, then I pulled up on the concrete pad, and shut the tractor off. The tractor died with a slow putt of getting little gas. I carefully got off without hitting the gearshift, and made my way to where Dad was.
Dad said “great job. Now you have learned how to drive the tractor.”
I replied “Thanks. I enjoyed it.”
Because of this, it has made me who I am. Also that I what my past has been like.
It makes me feel better about myself that I know what to expect in life and how to treat others.