Aleksi Buhler Mrs. Lehmann English 1-1A 12 March 2019 A Trip of Realization It’s currently three in the morning, and I still haven’t finished packing. I need to put a move on it if I want to be as far from L.A. as I can by eight in the morning. Especially if I don’t want anyone to catchme leaving. I need this trip alone so I can have some time to get my life back in order. I finishgathering my bags and throw them in the trunk of my little sky-blue car and head out. I first stop by the nearest gas station to fill my tank, grab some snacks, and pull out a couple thousand dollars in cash. Then I start my journey. There is no specific destination I want to be other than in Missouri. I don’t have a reason for going to Missouri other than most of my family history happened there, and maybe if I go, I can find a way to regain myself and get all this nonsense out of my head. Maybe, just maybe, I can find a way to be genuinely happy again. When I leave the gas station and head on my way to Missouri, I start playing the type of music I like, old country. Back in L.A. no one appreciated old country music like I do, but now that I'm on my own, I can play what I like. The first state I make it to is Arizona. I don’t end up doing anything in Arizona other than driving, because I'm pretty set on getting to Missouri as fast as I can. The next state I pass through is New Mexico. I find a hotel to stay at to rest for a couple of nights and figure out the rest of the way to Missouri. While I am sitting in the hotel, I startthinking about the last time I was in a hotel. It was three weeks ago with my best friend, Todd. We were both taking a break from everyone else in the world and spending time together. We talked about everything that was happening in our lives. It got deep and personal, but the next day was the day of the tragedy. That night before we went to bed, Todd took his medication for his heart cancer, but in the morning, I found out he took the wrong medicine. Todd was gone forever.There was no way I could get him back. Ever since that day, I havebeen a mess. I had the same clothes on for two weeks straight. I was too lazy to do anything, and I wouldn’t acknowledge that Todd was forever gone. I just kept pushing it off, as if he was on a short trip or something. That tragedy is the main reason for this trip. So I can get my life back in order and, to help me realize that he is gone. I can’t fix it; all I can do is acknowledge that he is not coming back. I leave the hotel after spending two nights in it and head on my way. It doesn’t take very long before I get to the tip of Texas. I don’t plan on doing much there, but I find myself at parties with strangers who call metheir friend, but I don’t even know them. I try to leave as soon as I can, but as soon as someone sees me trying to leave, they either introduce me to a new person or have me join one of the games. After three hours of hanging out with my new “friends,” I finally make it out and headed for Missouri again. The last state to go through before making it to Missouri is Oklahoma. Most night’s I stay in my car, then continue driving in the morning. Through Oklahoma, I drive all day and night. It takes a total of three days to get through, but then I am finally in Missouri. It takes two weeks to get all the way here, and the first thing I do is check my phone. I find that all my friends back in L.A. have been calling me since I left. I wasn’t planning on talking to anyone for a while, so I decide to take the battery out of my phone and throw it all in the glove box of my car. In Missouri, there is a house down by the lake that my great-grandma owned before she passed. I go to check it out and find out it hasn’t been in use for 25-50 years. I decide to stay in it, after cleaning it up. I fix the door, some areas in the ceiling, the floor, some walls, and some windows, but by the time I am done fixing it up, it looks the same as it did when my grandma lived in it. I spend a couple weeks less than a year down in Missouri by myself and develop a new friend. He is no Todd, but I need a new friend in my life. Down in Missouri, no one knows who I am and all the mistakes I've made. It is good getting out with a new crowd, but now I’m ready to go home. It takes two weeks before I get home, but when I make it, I make sure to call everyone I left in L.A. to tell them I took a trip to find myself. Even though a lot of them are angry I left without saying anything, they understand why and forgive me. They threw a welcoming party for me and my return, which is unnecessary but enjoyable. I know I upset some people when I left, but the trip helped me. It helped me realize that Todd is gone for good. It helped me realize how much everyone in L.A. cares, and it made me realize that even at life's worst, I can make it through. No matter how tough it is, there is always a way to keep going. I just need to keep my head up.
Narrative Reflection 1. List one thing you've learned from writing this paper that you can apply to other writing assignments. What will this look like? Answer: I learned how to narrate a story with detail, about an adventure with a short page limit. 2. Identify a specific revision you were asked to make and explain why. How did you revise? What did you learn? Answer: I had to change my past tense verbs to present day verbs. 3. What are the conventions of a narrative and how did you meet those in this assignment? Answer: It has to narrate a story with something that has happened in the past, I wrote about someone taking a trip to Missouri to regain themselves from a tragic death of their best friend. 4. Given more time to work on this assignment, how would you improve it? Answer: I would have added more detail. 5. What is one thing you're proud of in this paper? Answer: I am proud of the grade I earned on the original.