Looking Back As I sit here, drinking iced tea, brewed just like Mom always made, I read the journals I have written throughout my life, I wonder in amazement about the years gone by. Thinking about my life, reading my thoughts from the past, I ask myself, was it worth it? Was all the arguments, arguments and problems really worth it? I guess it's just a question we all ask ourselves as we get older. For now, I'll forget all that drama and take a trip to my past. As a child, I always thought life was just great! My days were spent having fun at school, coming home to a loving family, and playing outside with my sisters, which were such fun days. Yes, they were, until the day reality hit me in the face like a truck hitting a concrete wall. My world fell apart the day my grandmother died, and everything got worse from there. After this milestone in my life, I learned of other things that hurt me almost as much as my grandmother's death. It was a lot to handle as a child. As I read my journal from this time in my life, I wonder in amazement why some of these things hurt me so much. Even though these things put an end to my spirit, I was a strong girl with willpower and forced myself to move forward and see the beauty in life. During my teenage years, most of my time was spent in school. I looked at my parents' loves and saw how unhappy they were for not doing something with their lives, and that encouraged me to strive to do my best and make something of my life. Even though I took advantage of many academic enrichment opportunities and tried to further my education in every way possible, I was still a normal child, with normal feelings. Now, as I sit here I have matured; “old,” as I would have said as a teenager, I laugh at some of the petty things I used to argue, fight, and get angry about. “I can't believe what a brat that girl is! She's a backstabber! She should have known better than to go behind my back and tell Molly what I said about her! See what I mean? I laugh at this now and think about how immature I was, but when I wrote it, I thought it was one of the most important things that ever happened.