An Interesting Birthday

So tomorrow’s my birthday, May 18th. I’m supposed to be really excited, but truth be told, I’m not. I’m always reminded year after year that the day I was born broke a record for the hottest day in May, it was like 90 some degrees outside. My birthday really just reminds me of how out of it my friends can be. Nobody ever remembers my birthday, it’s like you have to tell them or give them a hint or something. I mean come on I remember all of their birthdays. My challenge for tomorrow is to not even bring my birthday up, and see who actually remembers. It’ll be an interesting day. My mom on the other had couldn’t forget it if her life depended on it. She got so excited because my birthday fell on a Tuesday this year, the day she’s got off. Oh joy! Last year she brought balloons into the school and hung them to my locker while I was in class. She was trying to be sneaky. Well that didn’t work so well, my friend got up to go to the bathroom, and when she got back she told me she saw some red headed lady putting balloons on my locker. Of course I knew it was my mom, I just shook my head and said ‘my mom would do that’. My friend just laughed and said it was cute. No, it really isn’t I thought to myself. Anyways back to the present. So I just found out that my mom is teaching zumba again this year, and one of her classes is on my birthday, and guess where she’s teaching it, the high school! Zumba isn’t like an aerobics class or anything, it’s some Latin dance, it’s kind of weird. The only good part of tomorrow is American Idol. I like listening to the vocals of some of them. Anyways we’ll just have to see how tomorrow goes!

Hannah Ropes: Civil War Nurse

Today is April 12, 1861, the first day of the war. As I walk the dirt path through the town, I can’t help but glance at the faces of the young boys. The excitement in each one of their faces sends a startling chill to my body. I wonder to myself how they can be so carefree about war. How they can handle the shrieks of others dying, or the bloodbaths after a fierce attack. I only wonder if that excitement will last after the first battle. As I’m approaching the entrance to the drug store, I hear two of the generals talking.
I believe it was General Watson, and General Smith. They seem to be talking about our route, and battle plans. I don’t think much of it and walk into the drug store. Sal, the owner, is one of my close friends, he usually has all of the information about the war for the local citizens. I walk up to the front counter and wait for Sal to finish up with his customer. He then walks over to the cash register and places the money in it.

“Alright, what’ll it be today Hannah”, he asks as he walks towards me.

“I just came to pick up some medication for our first aid kits, and maybe some cloth, I don’t know when our next stop will be”, I say.

He nods and walks over to a drawer. “How long do you think you’ll be staying in town before you start marching to your next destination”, he asks as he takes the medication out of the drawer and places it in front of me.

“I’m guessing we’ll be leaving tomorrow morning, we need to get an early head start if we want to reach Williamsburg before dark”, I respond.

He nods and hands me a piece of cloth. “You’re a brave one Hannah, there aren’t many woman willing to risk their lives for others” he says as I give him the money I owe.

“Thank you Sal, and I hope to be home soon, life just wouldn’t be the same without everyone”, I say as I walk towards the door.

“Stand tall, and stay brave. Oh and Hannah”, he says as I’m just about to leave.
“Yes Sal”, I say as I turn to face him.
“Good luck”, he almost whispers to me. I give him a curt smile and proceed on my way.

The atmosphere of war is so different from anything I’ve ever been in. Everyone barely smiles, and you can’t get too attached to people, because it makes it that much harder to lose them. Everything just seemed so quiet here. I walked over to a wagon with my first aid tools in it and placed the new medication and cloth inside of it.
Soon it was beginning to get dark out. I decided it would be smart to set up camp before it became too dark. Tonight I would be sleeping in the wagon, it will be much more comfortable than the ground. After lying down in wagon and covering up with a small blanket, I began to doze off. Soon darkness envelopes me, and I’m in a deep slumber.
I was woken early in the morning to cooking pots being shuffled about. Apparently it was time to get up and make breakfast for the soldiers. Even thought the Confederates had more soldiers cooking for the Union was no Sunday stroll. As I started making breakfast, I decided it might be a good idea to know another nurse, just in case of an emergency. So while I was cooking I started to talk to one of the nurses.
“Hello, I’m Hannah Ropes”, I said to her, trying to use my most polite voice.

“Betty Harolds, it’s a pleasure to meet you”, she responds back.

Same as for you. So have you heard anything about our next stop, or where it is”, I asked curiously.

“I’ve only heard that we might be going to Charleston”, Betty says to me.

“Charleston is a good 8 to 10 miles away, I guess we’ll be leaving this afternoon rather than later tonight”, I say thinking about the long walk ahead of us. “Well it’s been nice been nice to meet you Betty”, I say to her as I stand up to go clean up after breakfast.

“It’s been nice to meet you too, just tell me if you need any more supplies or help with something.”

I already have a war friend. I guess one’s all I’ll really need. Like I said before, if you get to attached to people, it makes it that much harder to lose them.
Later on we walked the 10 miles to Charleston, only to find out that the South was there also. It all happened so fast. Men were down on the ground everywhere. The air reeked of gun powder and blood. I quickly grabbed my first aid kit and started at work. It’s a good thing that I grabbed more cloth, because there were many men with bullets in their arms that needed to be bandaged up.
Soon the battle was over and the South had won due to our retreat. More than 400 men had died and it was only our second day. As it soon got dark the injured and the healthy went to sleep.
Everyday since the battle, Betty and I have been hard at work. There have been sneak attacks, where 10 or less men have died, but there are still the injured that need our help. We have went through more cloth than anyone could imagine.

(Time Skip)

It has been six months since the war has started. We started out with 220,000 men, and are now down to 100,000. We lost numerous well hearted men at the battle of Gettysburg. After that we have decided to reroute and go around certain places, so we don’t run into large about of Confederates.

(Time Skip)

Today is the day I get to go home and see my family. I haven’t seen them in a year. They’ve probably grown so much. As were enter our town I can’t help but look up at the sky and thank God that I’m still alive.

A Mother’s Always Right…. Sometimes

I thought my life was perfect. I was the head cheer leader, the one that got all the guys. My boyfriend was the quarterback of our schools football team. It was like we were meant to be. That is until he crushed me, by braking up with me. It wasn’t even a face to face I hope you can understand brake up. It was a lousy ‘I feel that we should see different people, I hope you feel the same way’. I spent most of my day’s with my friends since the text. They helped a lot. But not as much as my mom did when she talked to me. She told me she’s been through a similar thing, and of course me being myself I asked if they even had cell phones when she was a kid. She laughed and said ‘You know hun, a breakup is sort of like a broken mirror. You can leave it alone, or you can take the chances of getting hurt by trying to fix it’. I didn’t really think much of it but my mom was sort of right. I guess a guy is sort of like a good pair of shoes, you’ll know when you’re the perfect match.

The Worst Day Ever

Have you ever had a really, really bad day? I’m not talking about the time when your curly hair became not curly because of the rain, or the time when you dropped all of your books in the hallway by accident, and everybody decides that’s the time to start walking from their lockers to class, and ends up stepping all over your stuff. No, I’m talking about that time when bad things just constantly are happening all day. Like Monday. Let’s start at the beginning of the day. Five thirty in the morning, my alarm clock goes off. That annoying buzzing sound stuck in my head. I force myself up, and hop into the shower. But wait, my sister didn’t fix the bath mat that sticks to the floor of the shower, and I slip, hitting my head on the way down. When I’m done with my shower I get an earful from my mom about being loud in the bathroom and waking up my sister. Newsflash mom, she’s 11, and she’s the one that didn’t fix the mat after her shower. Could this day possibly get any worse? Apparently I spoke too soon, because when I step out the door the bus is just turning the corner, great I missed the bus! So my mother, that isn’t really thrilled with me right now, has to drive me to school in her pajamas. Fantastic! When I get to school it’s raining, and I decided not to wear shoes with a very good grip today. I’m doing fine until I reach the stairs. I slowly make my way up, watching my feet the whole time. Three stairs away and I’m feeling pretty confident. Well that is until someone walking up the steps bumps into me and sends me to the floor. Note to self, don’t wear non grip shoes to school when raining. Things went alright in 1st hour until I figured out my juice in my lunch box leaked on all of the stuff in my backpack. Sticky homework does not equal happy teachers. That went on throughout all of the classes, getting in trouble for not having my homework done, which I did, and I ended up sitting in the hall. Gym class was interesting, we were playing kickball, and instead of really paying attention, I was talking to my friend. That got me far, not! That got me a ball in the face, and a trip to the nurses office. She gave me an ice pack to cover up the large red mark on my face. Totally attractive. The end of the day finally came around and while walking to the bus, you guessed it, I walked into a stop sign. But instead of getting frustrated with myself this time, I laughed at myself with my friends. Yeah, I can try to act cool, but after awhile I get bored and go back to being my quirky, clumsy self.