All About Me

By: Audra Gaikowski

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To all of my friends and my family,

who have been there for me through thick and thin.

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Table of Contents

..........................................................................................................................My Name! 5

...........................................................................................................All I See is Country! 7

........................................................................................................................Restaurant! 8

..........................................................................................................That One Christmas! 9

........................................................................................................................Molly May! 11

...........................................................................................................The Best Birthday! 13

.................................................................................................................Going to Work! 15

.............................................................................................................................Advice! 17

.......................................................................................................................Daisy May! 19

.............................................................................................................Life in Wisconsin! 21

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“My Name”

My name has many meanings. In French it means noble and strong. In Chinese it means

peaceful. If I am the person my name says I am, I would have an intense emotional power that

would drive me to accomplish great things. I would be just as loyal as a dog to their owner to

some people. Or would be extremely intolerant towards people like Bob Ewell towards Atticus

Finch. My number is six. The characteristics of the number six are responsibility, protection,

nurturing, community, balance, and sympathy. So overall, my name has multiple meanings.

I was named after a girl my mother had babysat when she was a teenager. I seldom

remember her. We went to her graduation party, I was eight. I remember her playing with my

hair the entire time we were there. She wouldn’t dare let it go; it was almost as if her life

depended upon it, like this was the last time I would ever see her, so she had to cherish this

moment. While she was playing with my hair, I remember her telling me how beautiful I was,

and how she thought I was such a sweetie pie. What I will always remember about her is how

kind and nice she was, and how she made me feel like I was the most important and beautiful

little girl in the entire world.

My mother often tells me about what Audra was like. She had dark brown hair and eyes.

My mom told me about all of the fun times they had playing together when my mother would

babysit. She explained, with a smile on her face, about her 4-H project for which she made

matching dresses for the both of them, and how they pretended that they were models when they

were competing in front of the judges. She always exclaims how much of a sweet-heart Audra

was, and how she was one of the most gracious girls she’s met.

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I believe she is a nurse now, at least according to my mother. She is newly married, and

has just had a little baby boy. I hope life’s going well for her, and that she’s getting enough

sleep. Especially with a newborn baby.

All of this being said about Audra, I’m pretty happy that I was named after such an

amazing person. She is kind, sweet, and was able to make you think that nobody was as special

as you. I just hope that I’ll be able to live up to how extraordinary she is. That’s what my name

means.

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“All I See is Country”

I live out in the country. Actually, I live out down the road, take a right to “I’m lost

land”, then go down this giant hill, you’ll probably see a cow somewhere along the way, then

once you see the cow you know to take a left, go around what used to be a strawberry patch,

drive up a driveway with a black mail box, and Vawuala! You’re there! With that being said, I

live in the middle of nowhere. I have very little neighbors, but tons of trees and windy roads.

My driveways just comes off of a county road. When you turn left into the driveway, or

“The Hulk”, as I prefer to call it, it becomes suddenly steep. You can only see the very top of my

house once you’re halfway up my driveway. And this goes for most of my neighbors too. I

believe, for all of my eleven neighbors, three of them have a flat driveway. But the hills aren’t

the only problem with my neighborhood and my driveway; it’s the length. They’re not short

little ones that take thirty minutes to shovel snow off of. No, ours takes three hours for just two

inches of snow. But I can’t blame just the driveways for all of the problems. It’s basically every

road by my house that causes problems. The roads are narrow and curvy, like a little school

girl’s curly hair.

There are plus sides to living in the country though. Having my alarm clock in the

summer being the birds singing to me is definitely a benefit. I love the smell of autumn; good

thing my house has a barrier of trees. When we get a fresh blanket of snow we go outside to see

the different animal tracks that have been pushed in. All of the natural beauty in the spring. The

flowers just blooming, the smell of fresh cut grass, all are just wonderful to me.

So I guess all in all, my neighborhood’s not that bad.

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“Restaurant”

I had many different activities that I enjoyed playing as a kid. I loved my Polly Pockets,

playing with legos, and also reading books. (Henry and Mudge were my favorite). But the game

that I enjoyed playing the most as a child was restaurant.

My sister and I had this little lego table that we would put out in our living room, and also

these tiny chairs that we would use as well. The two people being waited on, typically my sister,

mom, or I, would have a delightful conversation about whatever we wanted. (The leftover

person would be the waitress). The waitress had a little Spongebob Squarepants book where we

would take the orders. The waitress would ask us what we would like to drink; they were

serving milk, water, or juice. I always choose milk. She would come back with what we

ordered, and would proceed with telling us the specials for today. We then ordered our meals,

and waited patiently for the waitress to bring us our food. Once we were served and had made

sure our bellies were full, we would go pay. For a Christmas present once, my sister and I had

gotten a toy register, complete with cash and coins. That was how we paid. Our waitress would

bring us our bill, and we would pay with a generous tip. We played this game at least once a

week, for multiple hours. Always making sure everyone got a chance to play each part. That

was most definitely my favorite game to play as a child.

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“That One Christmas”

My father was in the military for twenty-one years. He had to go to Afghanistan when I

was in second grade, and I was devastated. I felt bricks stacking on top of my shoulders, and I

just couldn’t shake them off. Holidays were especially hard. We always spent time with family

during holidays, and it felt like our family wasn’t complete without him there.

The first Christmas he was gone was just awful. My mom didn’t want to travel to see my

family in South Dakota and Nebraska without him, so we spent the holidays up in Wisconsin.

One of my mom’s friends who wasn’t doing anything for Christmas came over, and so did my

grandparents from Nebraska. But even with family and friends there, it just wasn’t the same. I

just wanted my daddy to come home.

Next Christmas was much better. My dad was coming home for two weeks! Everybody

in my family was so excited! My mom, sister, and I had spent weeks cleaning our house;

making sure that every crook and corner was sparkling. All of my dad’s family was coming to

our house, that way my dad didn’t have to travel anymore than he already had to.

We were on our way to the airport to go pick him up. I don’t remember it so well, but

what I do remember seeing the smile on his face when he saw my family. Then when we got

home, things just kept getting better. We had decorated our whole house with yellow bows,

some sitting on the banister, some outside, and the biggest bow on the top of the Christmas tree.

It felt like my world was complete again. That was definitely the best holiday I’ve had. The

only bad part was when he had to leave for Afghanistan again. Having to hold his hand for what

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could be the last time. We were all just glad though that we got to spend that one holiday

together.

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“Molly May”

Molly May was the greatest dog in the world.

Her hair was as gold as a summer day.

No matter where I was she was with me,

That was my sweet Molly May.

As a puppy, she was a trouble-maker,

Chewing through anything in her sight.

And as the golden sun went down,

She slept straight through the night.

As she matured she was still a bit goofy.

Full of energy, but also loyal and proud.

She found a love for hunting,

And also swimming in town.

She started growing older,

As everyone could tell.

She was wearing whiter hairs,

And some days she even fell.

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We had to take her to the vet,

Because of a lump on her stomach.

It ended up being breast cancer;

It felt like someone had shot me with a bullet.

I tried to comfort her,

And make her fell less pain.

She ended up dying five months later,

We buried her in the cold and rain.

I cried, and cried, and cried,

I couldn’t sleep for days.

I love her so much still,

That was my sweet Molly May.

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“The Best Birthday”

I’ve never been a big birthday person. At least not for myself. When ever it’s one of my

friends birthdays I always get excited and sing to them and get them presents and am always

yelling “Happy birthday!” to them when I see them in the halls.

One of my favorite parts of my birthday as a kid was baking the birthday treat for school.

When I passed them out to my classmates, I felt like an Emperour. Like I was in charge here. I

only give my friends the treats first, and they always got the biggest treat. And the people that

were mean to me or my friends would have to wait in agony and suffer while I shot them dirty

looks because they were going to be the last to get his or her treat. My second favorite part was

going out to dinner. The birthday girl always got to pick, and I always chose Outback

Steakhouse.

My dad’s missed some of my birthdays. There was the time when he was in Afghanistan,

I couldn’t blame him for missing those though. He also travels quite often for his regular job

though. And in seventh grade, it was the third birthday in a row that he was going to miss. He

wasn’t really going to be gone for the whole day though, he was supposed to be home from

Tennessee around nine P.M.. I still gave him quite a bit of flack though. I wasn’t really upset,

but I just would have wished he could have been there to say happy birthday in the morning.

I went to school, and was having a pretty typical day. That was of course, until seventh

hour. I got called to the office during the middle of class. I thought that was weird, why

wouldn’t have they just called me during passing time? I went though, and went I walked

through the door, I knew they were for me. A big, beautiful, bouquet of flowers, and a balloon

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from my dad. There were pink flowers and red flowers and blue flowers and yellow flowers and

so much more. I just couldn’t believe my eyes. He totally made up for not being there for all of

my birthday. Even when I get old and if I get Alzheimer’s, I’ll still remember that amazingly

awesome birthday.

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“Going to Work”

One day I was coming home from school, and there was a big black dog laying in my

ditch. My sister and I drove up our driveway, and I proceeded to run back down it to go see what

was up with this dog. Once I got to the bottom of my hill, I saw this old dog out in the middle of

the road, stopping traffic. So, being the animal lover I am, I took the dog up to my house, gave

him some food and water, and looked at his dog tag to see whose this dog was. As it turned out,

it was one of my neighbors across the road. Ring, ring, I called their home, but no one answered

the phone. So I just waited with this old dog in my garage. I saw he had a limp, and I was

growing impatient with the owner’s not answering their phone. I thought this poor dog had been

hit a car! Then I heard Beethoven’s Fur Elise start to play and I realized the phone was singing

to me. I quickly answered it, and sure enough, it was this dog’s owner. He came over and picked

him up. The owner told me that he was fourteen year old, was deaf, doesn’t have joints in his

hips anymore, and recently developed arthritis in his front right leg. I felt so bad for this old guy,

but also was proud that I could have potentially saved his life.

The next day, the owner’s wife had called me up to thank me for taking care of her old

dog. I said no problem, but she had more to say. She offered me a job to come to her house after

school and to let the dog out to go potty, and to give him a treat. I happily agreed! This was my

first job, and I couldn’t believe this was happening. I started the next week. I would walk over

to his house; the dog obviously remembered me. He just wanted to be petted! Not that I had a

problem with that, though. I have been taking care of him for five months now, but I can no

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longer take care of him. I have to go to driver’s ed, and soccer season will be starting soon. But

I really did enjoy taking care of that old sweetheart.

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“Advice”

I really haven’t gotten that much advice from anybody. There have been little things and

there, but nothing really concrete. If I had to choose one piece of advice though that really helps

me get through those rough days is to never stress out, and to always remember that God is by

your side.

There have been multiple times that I’ve really had to remember this piece of advice

given to me by my pastor. There was when my father had been sent to Afghanistan. When I

found out the news that he was leaving, I felt my world come crumbling apart. But I just had to

remember that He’s doing this for a reason, and He’ll be by my dad’s side the entire time he’s

fighting.

Another time was when my dog, Molly, had died. When we were coming home from

Omaha, and we received a call from our vet saying she had to be put down, I was sure my heart

had been ripped in two. I couldn’t think of anything except to drive faster, so we could see her

before we said goodbye for good. But by the time we had gotten back to West Salem, we were

too late. She was gone. When I was sick and depressed with sadness, I just had to remember

that He’s doing this for a reason; and he will help me through this bitter time.

The most recent time I can think of when I needed to step back and take breath, was

during semester exams. I have to have perfect grades. I only allow A’s and +A’s to be my final

grades. (My first -A was this year, and I’ve learned to cope with it). I started studying right after

Christmas break. I was furious and frustrated with the fact that I couldn’t retain any information!

I was sure I was about to explode with rage. I stayed up later trying to remember how to divide

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significant digits, and how to cite sources, but all of the information was going through one ear

and right out the other. Finally, when the first test happened, it really wasn’t that bad. My first

test was math, and I proudly got a sixty-two out of sixty-four on that exam. The rest of the tests

followed suit. Some, of course, more challenging than others. But nothing that I couldn’t

handle. But really, I know I only got through those exams because I remembered that God was

there to help me through all of my eight exams. And God will always be by my side whenever

I’m in a stressful situation.

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“Daisy May”

One of the happiest days of my life was the day that I got my puppy Daisy May. I had a

cat named Blackie up to fifth grade, and when she ran away, I was very sad. But it had come to

my attention that my sister had her dog Molly, but I didn’t have a pet to call my own. So I began

begging my parents for a dog since the spring of seventh grade.

I started looking online at some websites where people put up new litters of animals, and

where to find these animals. Then I saw her. The little black puppy with big brown eyes, the

cutest eyebrow raise I’ll ever see, and tiny ears up in proper hearing position. I read that she was

part pug part black lab part blue healer. Her size was expected to be medium, and I just knew

that she was the dog for me.

I then called my uncle, who is a vet, and he said to go get her. My dad wanted to see

what he thought about getting such a mixed dog, but my uncle said that it might not be a bad

idea. When dogs are crossed over with their breeds like she is, they lose the chance of receiving

certain diseases that are common for certain breeds. Like how golden retrievers are know for hip

problems, and beagles are know for having pooping problems. We ended up agreeing on getting

her. And I couldn’t wait until Wednesday to drive to Decorah, Iowa, to pick her up.

After three excruciating days of waiting, it was finally Wednesday, and time to pick up

my little black puppy. We drove down there, and went to the farm, which was where she was.

My dad and I walked to the barn, which was packed full of dogs and their owners. We later

learned that there was a dog training lesson going on. But the instructor took us to his wife who

was going to have us sign the paper work to give us Daisy. First my dad wanted to see how

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Daisy acted with the other dogs in her litter. So we took all of the puppies outside, put them in a

cage, and watched them play. She wasn’t too aggressive, but also wasn’t excessively shy. She

was perfect. She was adorable. She was meant for me. I picked her up, and I took her home.

And I have loved every minute of everyday that I have had her in my life.

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“Life in Wisconsin”

Summer is sweet

Every day is different

Autumn leaves are like a dream

Showers are what brings pretty flowers

Often we have cloudy days

Not as much as we have sunny ones

Seasons are what make Wisco great

Packers are the very best team

All year for them I cheer

Couldn’t have a better players

Kicking butt every game

Every season always winning

Run, run, run

Scoring points

Cows are what we’re known for most

Offering up the best milk around

We’re always taking care of cows

Summer, spring, all year round

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