Emma's Blog

       December is one of the busiest months of the year for most people, including me. I really have to keep track of my schedule so that I make sure that I have enough time for everything. I have Christmas parties for every friend group I am involved with, as well as Christmas concerts and shopping to do. The thing that helps me the most is staying organized. I put everything in my calendar in a different color as soon as I hear about it. That way I can prevent myself from double booking. I already had one instance where I was invited to my church’s Christmas program, but I am already going to a Christmas concert with my best friend. December is so tiring for me. I have so many things to do in so little time. My mother really helps me to keep track of everything and she does most of the Christmas shopping for my family. Even though December is busy, it is still one of my favorite months. I love Christmas, so the month leading up to it is really fun. I am just happy...

       One of my favorite things to do is read. I enjoy reading because it helps me to escape the world for just a little while. I really enjoy fantasy books that have magic or royalty. My favorite book series is Harry Potter . My aunt got me into Harry Potter around four years ago and I have loved it ever since. My family is planning to go to Universal over spring break and I am most excited for the Harry Potter area. I really love reading on the beach in the summer. Laying back in my chair, listening to the waves crash while I read a good book is one of the most relaxing things I can think of. The last book series that I read was The Selection which I really enjoyed. I love reading romance books. Every book I read has to have at least a little bit of romance. I consider myself a hopeless romantic and I love reading about people falling in love. Books help me to explore other worlds and to learn new things. I used to read a lot more than I do now, but I plan to mak...

       Up until last year, I had no idea what I wanted to do in the future. I had a few ideas, but nothing really stuck. My mom brought up the idea for me to be a Speech Pathologist. I had never thought about it before, and I told her that I would think about it. I took a college prep course online and I had to take a test to see what careers I would possibly be interested in. Lo and behold, one of the top careers listed for me was Speech Pathology. I did more research and there were more and more signs for me to become a Speech Pathologist. There were so many signs to do it that I decided Speech Pathology was the career for me. It is even better that I can work in pediatrics because I love children. My mom works at a doctor's office, and she says they do several referrals every day for speech therapy. Speech Pathology is a really great career. It pays well and there is a dire need for them, so I would never be worried about not having a job. People have told me tha...

       This year I have connected with a new friend group that is so important to me. Almost all of my high school friends moved away to college except for one. He and I have known each other for over 13 years, but we have really gotten close over the past few months since we are the only ones who stayed at home for college. I also have gotten really close with two girls from my young adult group. We had been friendly before, but now, we have gotten so close that I feel like I can tell them anything. We are the only 3 girls in our young adult group, so we really have to stick together. We have hung out several times outside of young adults. We really enjoy each other's company, and I am so happy to be able to call them my friends. I have always had trouble with friends. I have been told that I can be too clingy as a friend, but they don’t make me feel that way. They help me feel like I belong and not like I am a burden to them. It is nice to know that you are includ...

  My favorite movie that came out this year was “Top Gun: Maverick”. I really loved the original movie, so I was very excited to see the new one. I went to see it for the first time with my grandparents and my great aunt, who also loved the original movie. The movie was so good to me that I went to see it two more times in the theater and then I bought it the day it came out on Amazon Prime. To me, it was the perfect sequel movie. It had a good number of callbacks to the original while still being its own movie. I liked how there was a new generation of people in the new movie. I also really liked that there was a mission in this movie. The first movie was all about training, so it was interesting to see what it was like to have a mission. I think that the movie had a good amount of action, along with other, quieter moments. I just loved this movie so much and I think it will stay as one of my favorite movies of all time. It was also funny to me that my aunt saw it in theaters t...

       My biggest accomplishment from this year was graduating from high school and being a salutatorian. I went to a small private school and there were only seven of us graduating, but we were all very close together in terms of our GPAs, so being a salutatorian made me really happy. I have always pushed myself to be really good in school. My parents always told me that as long as I tried my best, they were proud of me. I was the one who put all of this pressure on myself. I would get upset if I ever go less than an A on my report card. I always told myself that I had to be the best or I would be a failure. My last year of school, I tried really hard to get out of this negative mindset. I told myself that as long as I tried hard, I had nothing to be upset about. I got my first C ever during my last quarter of high school and I wasn’t upset. It was the first time that I ever felt that weight lift off of my shoulders. Now, as long as I try my best, I am going to be h...

       One of my favorite things to do in the winter is to go skiing. My dad taught me to ski when I was around four years old, so it is something that we have always done together. We normally go skiing once or twice a year, but we are going to start going skiing more often now that I have all of my own gear. My mom normally comes with us, but she stays in the lodge drinking coffee. My dad took her skiing one time and she fell off of the chairlift both times that she went up. She hasn’t skied since. She is perfectly happy watching us in the warmth of the inside of the lodge. I hope to one day be able to go out West to go skiing. My cousins have done that, and they said that it was really fun. It would be amazing to go skiing on the giant mountains that are in the west. I love skiing and I hope to be able to continue skiing for as long as possible. My dad and I can really bond over skiing and it is something that only we share. I am very ready for it to be cold enoug...

       One of my favorite things about winter is that it is basketball season. I love watching the Carolina Tar Heels play basketball. They are my favorite team. My mom is a Carolina fan, and my dad is a state fan, so I was always kind of in the middle. That changed a few years ago though. It was over Christmas break, and I was sick. I had a really bad stomach virus that stayed for almost two weeks. One thing I would do to keep my mind off of how bad I felt was to watch Carolina basketball. That was what really solidified them as my favorite team. I just love to watch basketball. I have been to a few of their games before and it is always fun. My whole family gathers together to watch their games, while my dad normally plays on his phone the whole time since he doesn’t like them. Watching the games is a great way for my family to connect with each other. It can get a little intense when they are losing, or the refs make a bad call. The whole family starts to scre...

     Over the Thanksgiving holiday, my parents and I traveled to the beach. It was really nice because it was just the three of us. Normally when we go to the beach, the rest of my family also comes, so it was nice for us to spend time together alone. My mom and I went out on the beach on Thanksgiving Day and relaxed out there for a couple of hours. It was so peaceful just listening to the waves crashing on the sand. One of my favorite ways to relax is to take a nap on the beach and that is exactly what I did. On Black Friday, my parents and I went to a mall in Wilmington. We shopped for a couple hours before we went back to Oak Island to eat at my favorite restaurant. It was such a fun day and we got lots of Christmas shopping done. On Saturday, we went into Southport to shop at all of the local businesses. It was very busy, but also really fun. We went down to the waterfront so that I could collect sea glass. When I go to the beach, I have to collect sea glass. It is my...

  Every year, my mother and I pack shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. It is very important to me. I have been to the shoebox packing center where everyone sends their boxes and it is truly crazy just how many boxes are sent around the world. I have always loved packing shoeboxes, but going to the center where they pack them shows just how many children are reached by the boxes. For these children, the shoeboxes are the only present that they will get for Christmas. I believe that every child should have a present to open on Christmas. I have heard stories from the volunteers who have been around the world with these children. They said that it is amazing how excited they are to be getting a Christmas present. Every shoebox is packed with love and care to be able to go to these children. Since 1993, when they created Operation Christmas Child, almost 200 million children have received a shoebox for Christmas. Operation Christmas Child is a passion of mine and I love being able...

     The best gift I have ever received was on my thirteenth birthday. My neighbor Lois gave me a beautiful gold and diamond ring that was a family heirloom. Lois never had any children, but she helped to raise me. She would pick me up from school and I would stay at her house until my parents got home from work. I also stayed at her house during the summer. She was an amazing lady. She passed away a few years ago and I was so upset. It was the first time that someone very close to me had died. It took me a long time to be able to even talk about her without crying. Now, with this ring that she gave me, I will always have a little piece of her with me wherever I go. It meant so much to me that she gave me the ring. She had cousins that she could have given it to, but she chose me. It was her way of saying that I was a part of her family, whether I had been born into it or not. I still miss her every day, but I can look at her ring and I know she is watching over me.

     My next big trip that I want to go on is the school’s study abroad trip to South Africa next summer. I have always wanted to study abroad, and I think that South Africa will be an amazing place to go. I really love to travel, but I have never been out of the country. I think that studying abroad will give me great opportunities to learn about other cultures. I also really want to go on a safari. To be able to see lions and elephants and other animals in their natural habitat is a dream of mine. I love animals and I want to see them in the wild. I think that would be so cool. Also, just to travel sounds like so much fun, but also a little scary. If I am with a school group, I would feel a lot more safe going to a different country. I have a friend who is from South Africa and she has shown me pictures of it. It looks like a beautiful place and the opportunity to travel there is something that I am so excited about. Being able to travel to new places and meet new peopl...

     Back in April, I went on my senior trip with my class. It was a small school so there were only six of us going on the trip and we were all girls. On our last day of the trip, we went to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia. The weather was forecasted to be stormy and rainy all day so we didn’t know how much we would actually be able to get done. When we got there in the morning, it was a little cold and cloudy, but there wasn’t any rain. There were also very few people in the park. We went on several rides where we had no line and we got to ride them multiple times. Then, it started to warm up outside and the sun came out. It turned into a beautiful day and there was hardly anyone at the park. We went on every ride at least twice and some we didn’t even have to get off of. It was so much fun that day. We rode every ride that they had including one that had just opened up the month before we went. It really was the perfect day to end our senior trip. The clock tow...

     My favorite sport to play is definitely volleyball. I played volleyball at my school for both middle and high school. We always won our conference championship and one year we won the state championship in our division. Volleyball was a huge part of my life and I still love it. I just chose not to continue playing into college because our school was the best in our conference, but we were not up to the level of other conferences. My last year playing volleyball, I was team co-captain and the libero, which was a big accomplishment for me. My favorite sport to watch is Carolina Tar Heels basketball. They are my favorite team and I love watching the games, even if they stress me out. I just love watching all of the players playing. I have even been to see a few games in person. I miss Coach Williams, but I really like their new coach, Coach Davis. My other favorite sport to do is skiing, even though I don’t ski competitively. I have been skiing since my dad taught me wh...

       I love this time of year. It is almost Christmas, but not quite yet. I enjoy Thanksgiving and spending time with my family. We always have the best food on Thanksgiving, and I love eating it and then having leftovers. I also love to shop on Black Friday. My whole family goes together to shop and make it a day trip. I always buy all of my Christmas presents on Black Friday. I like the time before Christmas because I like being able to wait until Christmas morning. I think the waiting makes it even more fun. On Christmas Day, we always go down to my grandparents' house to eat breakfast. My great aunt always makes these delicious fruit cups that everyone loves. After that, we open all of our Christmas presents before the extended family gets there for lunch. We eat lunch and then open the rest of the Christmas presents. Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I love driving around to look at Christmas lights and I love Christmas music. I don’t really like col...

       My family is very important to me. I am an only child, so it is just me and my parents. My mom is my best friend. She works as a nurse at a pediatric doctor’s office. She does so much to help people. She has been working so hard lately with all of the sickness going around lately, but she never complains. She is such a hard worker and aims to help as many people as she can. My dad is a retired sheriff’s deputy from Guilford County. He went back to work at the Airport Police at Piedmont Triad International Airport. He also used to be an ambulance driver and he is a volunteer firefighter. Any branch of first responders you name, he has done it. He is an inspiration to me. He always helps people no matter what. A few years before he retired, he even won an award for saving the life of a school bus driver that collapsed and wasn’t breathing. I am so proud of him for that. I love both of my parents so much and they have set a great example for me to follow. I hope ...

       I work at Wet’n’Wild water park over the summer. I am not a lifeguard because I couldn’t handle being in charge of anyone’s life. That would be too stressful for me. Instead, I work inside in the air conditioning. My job is at a place called Base. It is in a little building behind the water park, but it is where all of the important stuff happens behind the scenes. Base does things like clock people in and out, make announcements, and listen to the radios for any emergencies. We also make sure that everywhere is clean and all of the food stands are fully stocked. If there is ever an emergency, they always call us. If a lifeguard has to save someone, a different lifeguard calls is on the phone. Then, we log it and call the supervisor in charge of that area of the park so that they can do a report. We are also the ones in charge of making the opening announcement. We basically help to keep the park running smoothly. It is a really fun job for the summer and I li...

       My favorite place in the entire world is Oak Island, North Carolina. I have been going to Oak Island since I was born. My great-grandparents built a house on Oak Island in the 1970’s, so that is where we always went on vacation. When they died, my grandpa and his sister inherited the house. They decided to sell it and split the cost. With that money, my grandparents bought a beach condo on Oak Island. It is a beautiful condo with two balconies and a view of the beach and the pool. The condo is the closest one to the pool. The beach is my favorite place. I love to go and swim in the ocean, lay on the sand, and soaking up the sun. My family and I spend all of our holidays at the beach. We all love staying there together and it is so fun to spend time family. We always go onto the beach together and hang out under the umbrellas. I like to eat Sunset Slush Italian Ice, which comes around in big carts for sale. I also like lounging around by the pool. It is a great...