Excogitation

 Traveling back in time to talk to the founding fathers of our country would be an amazing experience.  

                                 

   What would you say if you could travel back to 1776 to talk to the founding fathers of our country? Well, If you think about it, I mean truly think about it, it’s a thought provoking and powerful question. If I had that chance I would tell them what a great country we’ve become based upon the constitution they wrote over 200 years ago that was the foundation of our desirable country. Additionally, I'd want them to know that the way they set up our country, based on freedom has prevailed and benefitted so many people.

    Since the constitution was written, our country has opened the doors for people to immigrate here from all over the world to make a better life for their families.  They came for job opportunities and of course, freedom. Some of the biggest freedoms that stood out were religion and speech. Those things matter immensely to people and are the core elements that play a part in establishing the definition of a strong, independent nation.  

    Personally, I'd desire to let them know that the founding fathers have excelled when they set up this country. Perhaps, if they heard that, they’d know they succeeded .Also, they’d know that they’ve accomplished exactly what they set out to do.  In a way, I feel as if it would reassure them and make them feel confident. The constitution vividly states that freedom is a must and will be the foundation of our country forever and always. Our founding fathers thought incredibly about whether these things would succeed or not.

    Rethink that topic. Having a word or two with Thomas Jefferson or George Washington to tell them how our country stands today. Now don’t tell me you don’t think that would be impeccably eye-opening.  American citizens should thoroughly ponder the idea, as if it were to happen to them . On the spot, if you asked someone that question, I bet they wouldn’t have an answer immediately. The attention grabbing question displays itself like a magnet for strong opinionated people. So, really, what would you tell them?

  

The Everlasting Love

Author's Note:  I wrote this cause and effect piece on The Notebook by Nicholas sparks because of the touching and inspirational moments the couple have shared together. 

In the book The Notebook  , a wealthy teenage city girl, Allie, falls in love with a low-paid country boy, Noah,  in the 1940's.  Their love lasts throughout the summer, but begins to deteriorate as fall approaches because of major disapprovement of Noah by Allie's parents .  The climax is determined when 63 years later, Noah reads Allie a letter about  the married couples life, and Allie recalls that Noah is her husband.  Allie has  severe Alzheimer's and can barely remember anything. This is the turning point because Allie falls in love with Noah all over again and actually can remember him. 

The result to this climax was that Allie and Noah can actually enjoy their time together. In the past , Allie would have short outbursts of fear around people, including Noah, because she forgot who he was. As her Alzheimer's progressed badly  and Noah's health grew worse as well, the two of them spent as much time with each other as they possibly can by doing things like playing the piano, reading, or walking in the garden etc.  At one point in time, the doctor actually thought that Allie's Alzheimer's was doing better, but turned out to be doing the opposite. Eventually the two died together in the same bed, holding each others hands.

Thriving for Answers

Author's Note: I wrote this response on the main conflict in the book The Secret Life of Bees and the explanation and resolution to the conflict.

   Lily Owens lives on a peach farm with her careless and abusive father who wishes to have a "normal" family .There are multiple conflicts in this book like, Lily having an abusive father. However, the main conflict is  Lily wanting to find out certain information about her dead mother. Lily wants to find information about her dead mother but she is unable to because her dad will not tell her.

 In the book, it clearly shows that Lily is longing for a caring father and wants to know about her mother who has been dead for 10 years. The things Lily wants to know are things such as, the person who killed her mother with the gun, the reason her mother had a gun, and the reason her mother was acting the panicky way she was the day she had been killed. Lily has been stuck for many years wondering these things, but had a major deprivation of the details regarding them.

 The resolution turned out to be very happy and relieving. It started when Lily and her housemaid ran off to a small town that Lily's mother was linked to. Lily and the maid ended up in the house of three loving sisters who were friends with Lily's mother a while back when Lily was a baby. Over the course of time during Lily's stay at the three ladies' house, she slowly discovers information that she has been thriving for so long. She was  upset at first, because she found out that she was the one who accidentally killed her mother. Lily eventually came to terms with the shocking details and was put at ease. The love grew fond between Lily and the three women, so it was decided that Lily would stay with them as her permanent home and would be free from her unlovable father. 

In the book The Secret Life of Bees the main conflict is Lily wanting to find information about her mother who is dead. Over the course of the book, Lily learns valuable life lessons and discovers information that she was in search of.

The Big Apple Escapade

Author's Note:  I wrote about this for my personal narrative/memoir because it's a very fond and unforgettable memory of mine.

It was surprisingly NOT an invigoratingly cold-feeling afternoon in the Big Apple on December 26th. Maybe I was a little far stretched by having two pairs of gloves, ear warmers, and a hat  on. Anyways, my family embarked on a trip to New York City for the day to basically do everything "tourists" do. I do hesitate calling us tourists because we've already been there 5 times and have lived near there,  but love it enough to go back. I was ecstatic to return to such an, I guess you can call "magical" place that I have many fond memories from.  Once we finally parked our car, my cousin Kelly, Aunt Kerry, Mom, sister Ashley, and I headed towards Rockefeller Center to ice skate. In the meantime  my Dad, Uncle Jim, brother, and other cousin James went to the spot that John Lennon was murdered at.  My brother is an absolute Beatles fanatic , so that explains the death site visit for them.

  We were waiting in line for about one and a half hours before we could even get our skates and pay. Let me tell you though, those one and a half hours were not as atrocious as you would think they would be. They were actually kind of entertaining. I snapped  pictures of the golden angels spread out throughout the plaza, but if you want to know something about being mesmerized , let me tell you about the beautiful Christmas tree. The 74 foot Norwegian spruce was twinkling with lights and dazzling with ornaments. As I stood there admiring it, my mom called out to me,

 " C'mon Grace, it's time to get skates"

     

I acknowledged my mom and scurried along. The blonde lady handing out skates was most definitely  in the Christmas spirit because she had on elf shoes and a priceless jingle bell hat which I thought was just awesome . In a confusingly high pitched voice she asked me,

 

 " What size are you sweetheart"?

   

  I told her my size and she handed me a dark blue pair of skates. I swiftly laced up my skates and was ready to go. The five of us cautiously stepped onto the ice, awaiting that  inevitable moment for one of us to fall. My cousin, sister and I started getting the hang of things by picking up speed and practically prancing on the ice  while my Mom and Aunt struggled to get a steady pace going.  Watching the ice shave up against my blades reminded me of why I love ice skating and doing little family things like this. A woman who saw us trying to get pictures approached us,

  

 " Do you guys want me to take a group photo for you?''

    

 " Yeah, sure! If you don't mind" My aunt told her.

   

  So the lady took our picture, and must I say it's a quite admirable one. The glistening  Christmas tree next to us, us with rosy cheeks, and the whole splendiferous  city before us. It was perfect. After time escaped us with fun, we decided to get off of the ice, but I knew I could've skated longer. Before we entered the small recreation room, I turned around one last time to take a final glimpse of the rink, and continued to follow my sister to the skate return. Once all of our skates were off, we decided to grab some hot chocolate at a local café  to reward ourselves.

  " Oh my god, that was so much fun" my sister  squealed.

  Everybody nodded in a satisfied agreement. The five of us all ordered the same thing at Café Mocha. A double fudge chocolate hot cocoa. Just thinking about it made my mouth water. The café was a petite, but very cozy place. The walls were painted a deep purple, and candles of different scents were burning everywhere. A fireplace was lit giving it the perfect affect.

  We all sat there in the brown leather chairs, sipping on our drinks nearly scorching our tongues. All of us started to reminisce about our humorous moments, like when my cousin tried to save herself from falling by kicking the air but fell on her butt anyways.

I could tell that we were all pleased, so I knew the rest of our "touristy" day was going to be very enjoyable. My mom spotted  the rest of our family outside of the café, so we exited Café Mocha and approached them. Gathering together and exchanging  memories of our first activity, we were contemplating where to go next. I decided to give a hint of our next potential destination by smiling and saying,

  " Hey, who's looking forward to some original New York cheesecake?"