Behind My Eyes

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Alli Elliott

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Alli Elliott

Dedicated To Mrs. Deal, for making a project based on my favorite school related thing: writing.

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Alli Elliott

Table of Contents Title Page..........................................................................................................................................1 Dedication Page ...............................................................................................................................2 Table of Contents .............................................................................................................................3 My Name..........................................................................................................................................4 Memory Lane ...................................................................................................................................5 Wisco................................................................................................................................................6 Do Something For Humanity ...........................................................................................................7 Holiday ............................................................................................................................................8 Happy Times ....................................................................................................................................9 Hubba, Hubba ................................................................................................................................10 Bad Day .........................................................................................................................................11 Making the Negatives Positive.......................................................................................................12

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Alli Elliott

My Name My name is overused. It pricks my ears every morning. Get up, get up, get up. I am sick of my name. Picked out by my mom, simply because “I was an Allison”. I don’t know what an ‘Allison’ is, but it feels like it’s a perfect picture in my mom’s head that I have to meet. There are too many Allison’s. I go by the name ‘Alli’ to my friends and teachers, and ‘Allison’ by my family. No one really understands the reasoning behind this, only me. I am reminded of why I chose ‘Alli’ from my brother, he is exactly like me. Under the pressures of popularity. It may seem silly to think first graders experience your classic high school popularity, but they do and that’s why I abbreviated my name. ‘Everyone’ named Allison shortened their name, so I did too, and it stuck. There are too many websites with different definitions to pick one true meaning of my name. I don’t think there is one true meaning to be honest. I think you have to give your name its own meaning, or put your own twist on it. I am not sure if I have put my own twist on it. I wonder if when my peers and I have graduated and gotten married and begin having children of their own will think of baby names and avoid the name Allison because of me. I think I might. It’s similar to what we read in the book, being named after someone is like following in their footsteps. I couldn’t name my child after someone I already know, it would put a picture in my head and that’s the last thing I want.

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Alli Elliott

Memory Lane (My Neighborhood) I don’t have a neighborhood now, but I have brief memories of the one I lived in when I was little. We lived on a narrow alley, that had lots of big puddles to splash in after it rained. We had a decent duplex that was originally owned by my Grandma. We shared it with my favorite cousin, which was great on my part. We had elderly neighbors who spoiled me so much you would have thought I was their own. I lived one block away from my best friend, and we would walk the same exact route every time we would visit each other. I used to sit on my porch everyday, dollar clutched in my hand, waiting for the ice cream man, otherwise know as Mike Alumbaugh. He and I both still remember it to this day. He still tells me stories of how excited I would get when I would spot that obnoxious rainbow umbrella. In the summer, I would sit under the big pretty tree in our front yard and eat strawberries, and mark up every inch of sidewalk with pastel colored chalk and turn into my mom’s worst nightmare with my powdered hands. In the fall, I would paint countless pumpkins only to throw a fit the next day to see I was unintentionally sharing my pumpkins with the squirrels. When winter would come, I would get all bundled up in endless sweatshirts and my coat and attempt to make a snowman, only to give up when I got too cold. Thinking back to it now, I would love to live in my old neighborhood. My current house is very lonely. There is a vacant house next door, so it’s just our big blue house standing alone on top of I-90.

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Alli Elliott

Wisco Wisconsin Weird weather Rain and snow Wet Puddles Splash Wisconsin Dells Wisconsin Cheese Mouse Hole Fall Leaves Tree Hugger Love Sports Football Packers

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Alli Elliott

Do Something For Humanity The most significant piece of advice I have ever received was from my grandpa. To my family (on my dad’s side), deer hunting is an important event. The first weekend of deer season, family from all over come together and drive deer out of the woods all day and basically get drunk off of their faces at night. I always feel a bit left out during this weekend so I had decided to drown my boredom in the drunken poker game my family was engaged in. I have always been fascinated by the hushed game. I took a seat between my uncle and grandpa focused on the cards that held their fate. I silently observed their moves until my grandpa backed out of the game and turned to me and asked me a question that I have heard so many times I can’t count. “What are you going to be when you grow up?” he asked me. I never know the answer to this question and it seems like I should, but I really have no clue. I shrugged my shoulders at my grandpa which triggered him to talk about life from his experiences. I usually just laugh at his rants, but with this one he seemed so dedicated to the subject he was oblivious to my giggles. “Do something for humanity.” he slurred intelligently. I nodded and with that our conversation ended, leaving me with my new thoughts. I had never thought of it that way, and since then, all of my decisions somehow come back to that one simple statement. Do something for humanity.

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Alli Elliott

Holiday Caring Hearts Roaring Fires Inseparable Sweets Twinkling Merry Aspirations Songs Turkey Happy Birthday Arrangements New Age K Stuffed Gifts I V Invitations New pants Grateful New beginnings Excitement Waking up the new year Yelling Exceptions Adventures Restart

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Alli Elliott

Happy Time When I was about eight or so, around the 4th of July, I and my dad’s girlfriend’s son, Bryce, were told we would be getting a surprise. We drove up to my cousins house on a muggy night and climbed out of the car with eager faces. What we found waiting for us, was a litter of rowdy kittens. With wide eyes, Bryce and I looked at all of the mewling creatures with amazement. We chose two kittens and put them in an empty Coca-Cola 12-pack box and made our way home. They scratched at the cardboard the whole way home. The second the car was switched into park we scrambled out of our seat belts and bolted into the house to let the new kittens out to play. When we roughly tipped the box over to release the tiny beasts, they tumbled out like apples in a paper bag. We squealed with amusement and played with them until we had to go to bed. I remember one time, where it was just me and my dad at the house, lazing around watching whatever cheesy cartoon I was into, when I noticed the soft noise of my dads snores. I turned over to see a rare sight: my dad with both kittens fast asleep cuddled up to his sides. I just about melted at the sight and tried to silently creep to kitchen to get the cheap disposable camera and snap the picture to save forever, but my dad is too light of a sleeper and stirred when I stood up. The kittens were still cute, though.

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Alli Elliott

Hubba, Hubba When I was 5 years old, a very important man died. My great-grandpa Moxie. I didn’t know him very well at all, in fact, I was always a little bit scared of him. He always talked at a loud tone, and his apartment always had different nurses scurrying in and out of his room. Now that I am old enough to understand, my mom and grandma always tell me stories of all the great things and the awesome adventures he’d accomplished in his successful life. He owned the, once large, piece of land in Lake Neshonic, literally the land in the lake. He had a cabin built on the little island, and he always had my mom and my uncles out to have sleepovers in it. It burned down a long time ago, and that makes me really sad. It would have been really cool to go there. One of the few memories I have of him is when I was little, my mom would walk our dog and I would pedal my bike to his apartment. I would walk in, to hear him wolf whistle loudly and say “Hubba, hubba!” as I would twirl around my girly little sundress. My mom and I would stay for a while and I would play outside in the little pebble garden he had outside, only to come back and have my pretty dress a few shades darker than what it started as. If I would have gotten a chance to know my great-grandpa Moxie, I would probably miss him more.

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Alli Elliott

Bad Day In middle school, I had a fight with my best friend over a miscommunication. It honestly sounds so stupid now, that I don’t even want to explain it now. To sum things up and to avoid sounding immature, I had thought we had plans to hang out but Leah thought we didn’t. We had fought in our English class during work time and things were said and feelings were hurt. We spent the rest of the day avoiding each other. Since we hung out with each other more than the rest of the people in our grade, we were both a bit lost and very bad at being separated. I chose to spend recess with some other friends who I liked, but I would have much rather have hung out with Leah. Leah spent the majority of the time by herself, plucking at the grass, until a girl named Laura began to talk to her. She convinced Leah to talk to Mr. Lang, the guidance counselor. After she talked to him, I was called into the office later that day. Once I arrived and heard that I had to talk to Mr. Lang, my heart began to race. I don’t deal with getting in trouble very well, it sucks the words right out of my mouth. Only halfway through his first sentence, I had began to cry. Under the influence of my tears, I could only nod and sniffle to everything he was saying, whether it was true or not. Stepping into that office and letting vulnerability take over me is one of my biggest regrets.

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Alli Elliott

Making the Negatives Positive On a gloomy day in West Salem, a tornado warning was issued. We all had to shuffle into the hallways and close all of the doors. Panicking little kids squealing in fright must’ve been annoying for the teachers. None of the children knew exactly what was going on, being 10 years old and younger. Curling up in a little ball, all the kids sat in silence for about fifteen to twenty minutes and growing impatient. The decision was made to stay at school for an extended amount of time. My second grade class went back to the class room and decided to put in a movie to calm us down. We then all sat around on pillows and beanbags with a movie playing. I will never forget this day. I remember that week I had just started riding my new bus. After all of the previous panic, I had forgotten which bus was mine. I started to get a bit freaked out. I had walked around for about five minutes with my face white as a ghost until and aid had noticed me and asked if I needed help. She then walked me around the bus loop going past countless buses. I finally found my bus afterward and it turned out to be a pretty good day.

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