Simple Joys in Life

When someone asks me what I value most, what would be the first thing that I say? Most people today would start off by saying that they value all of their expensive items. Why do they do this, though? Maybe it is because of the economy, and money is more important to people. Or, is it possible that people just do not take the chance to enjoy time with each other anymore?

I get to practice early just to make sure I have time to shoot around before everyone else arrives. I pull my soccer ball out of my bright orange bag. For a moment, I look at all of its imperfections. The rips in its skin, the grass stains, the faded Sharpie letters spelling out my name. I drop it on the wet ground and tap it forward with the toe of my cleat. I watch as the tiger-like stars roll over each other on top of the yellowed backdrop. The ball skids to a stop dew covered grass.

As I strike the ball, all I have to think about is hitting the ball as hard as I can. Every emotion that might have been in me early is gone, and all that I need to worry about is the goal and my ball going in it. I feel the impact on my left foot and stumble forward as I watch the perfectly spherical object float through the air and finally hits the back of the goal. All of a sudden, all of my ball’s imperfections are lost in the sea of waves the net makes as the ball takes the air out of it. My ball probably cost me about twenty dollars, but the amount of stress and emotion that I have taken out on it, along with how much I use it, makes it worth 200 dollars to me!

It is early Christmas morning, and I can here my little brother rifling around in his stocking. I slowly and quietly crawl out of bed making sure not to wake anyone else, and as I peek my head into the living room, the first thing I see is the Christmas tree and below it, all of our presents. And there is my brother, looking at me like I caught him red-handed, glimpsing at what was in his stocking. Soon after, everyone else wakes up, and my brother begs my parents to let him open his stocking, even though he already knows everything inside of it. After my parents get their coffee, they let us start opening presents. My brother always finishes opening his first, and is always ready to help others open their presents, too.

Once we all open our presents, it quickly turns into chaos around the house. We hastily eat our Christmas breakfast, cinnamon rolls, and then we all get ready for Christmas to be celebrated at our house. It is the one time of the year we can always count on where all of our family comes. Some come all the way from Colorado, while others live right here in South Hadley. As we run around the house, you can smell the ham and turkey in the oven, along with the tortellini soup being made.

Once every room is cleaned to my dad’s ­­­expectations, we are ready to celebrate. The most exciting part of Christmas is seeing family members that we have not seen in almost a whole year. We all crowd around the long table and enjoy our dinner. Nobody minds how close we are at the table because we are all enjoying ourselves and having a good time. When it’s time to open presents, we all do it at once, but the kids are the ones that get the most attention. After, we all settle down again and just catch up with each other because we know that the next time we see each other will probably be for the next Christmas.

I value both my soccer ball and Christmas day very much. They both allow me to relax and just be myself. My soccer ball allows me to relax by myself and just take a break from everyday life, but Christmas day is a day that I can enjoy with my family and I always know that even though there is so much chaos in the morning, it will be a relaxing day. I am not sure which one I would choose over the other, but I do know that I value both of them very much.

1st Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. St. Martin's Griffin, 2007. Genre: Historical Fiction

Sarah, a ten year old girl, lived in Paris in 1942. Her family was one of the many in France who, on July 16, 1942, had to leave everything they had and were roundup by the French police by the orders of Germany. Sixty years later, Julia Jarmond, an American Journalist living in France, is assigned the story of the Veledrome d'Hiver Roundup of 1942, and ends up chasing down Sarah's story.
Author Beth Harbison said, "Beautiful, painful, compelling. At times I didn't want to read on but I couldn't stop. A lyrical lesson in how the human spirit still shines through the shadowed shames of history."
Tatiana de Rosnay starts off by alternating who is telling the story in each chapter. Sarah tells her story and about what is happening in France of 1942, while Julia tells about her story and chasing down Sarah's story. About halfway through, only Julia tells the story, and it leaves you with a mystery, for Julia to find later, about what happened to Sarah.
The way De Rosnay wrote the book reminds me of My Sister's Keeper. It reminds me of the way Jodi Picoult also alternated between who told the story, and "let" everyone tell "their part".
"The day dragged on, endless, unbearable. Huddled against her mother, the girl watched the families around her slowly losing their sanity. There was nothing to drink, nothing to eat, the heat was stifling. The air was full of dry, feathery dust that stung her eyes and her throat"(30).
Tatiana De Rosnay was very descriptive in a way that made you feel like you were right in the scene with the main characters, but did not drag on about small details that would not have made a difference to the story.
Reading Sarah's Key really opens your eyes to what living in Europe during World War II. The Holocaust did not only affect Jews who were sent to the camps, although they suffered tremendously, but also the families who moved into the emptied house, knowing, and having to live with the fact that another family was just recently forced out of it. Before reading this book, I knew of the Holocaust, and that Jews were discriminated against. I knew that they were sent to camps, where most of them were killed. But, the details of how they did not know what was going to happen to them or their loved ones, and the suffering, not only physically, but mentally. Also, I did not know about the children. The number of children that were murdered during the Holocaust was huge, but the Vel' d'Hiv roundup had the greatest number of children that were sent to the camps, and none of them were able to return to Paris.