The following story came from my writing group where we were asked to write about a time in our lives that formed us or changed us. Here's mine:
I was ten years old and for me
life was a happy one. I was living in
Belfast with my family. I attended a local primary school and had no issues, no
problems, everything was fine and carefree.
I ran the streets at night
playing with the other kids in the neighbourhood. I have fond memories of
playing kerbie, riding our bikes and skateboarding down the hill. By the time I
was seven my knees were rough with scabs and scars. It was fun.
I was happy at school. My mum
taught me for two years, there weren’t any major problems with that. The other
kids told tales on me. It was a difficult situation but think it was harder on
my Mum. We got through. I don’t
remember any big issues in primary school. There was the usual kid’s stuff,
girls falling out and making up the next day, chasing after boys and being made
to learn to knit!!
There was one thing in life which
I did not like and which scared me. That
was the bombing and terrorism going on around me. I also remember my granny not
liking me very much but that didn’t really annoy me until I was fifteen. When you are ten or younger things don’t
bother you as much as they do when you are older. I fought with my sister at
times, but then who doesn’t fight with their siblings?!
I loved going to Church and being
the minister’s daughter, everyone knowing me, giving me sweets and just
generally being kind to me. However,
that changed in time as I grew up.
I loved Belfast, it was my home
and I didn’t want to leave, but one night my Dad sat me and my sister down to
tell us we were leaving Belfast and moving to Bangor. I was upset, I didn’t want to go. That was
the night my childhood left and things changed. I had to go to a new town, a
new school, a new church and I would have no friends and was unsure if I would
find any more.
Life wasn’t carefree any more, I was
eleven and had to rebuild my life. It
was probably a dress rehearsal for the other four times I have now had to
rebuild my life. But at eleven it is
very difficult. I was annoyed and
probably a bit angry at my Dad for making us move and not asking my permission before
hand, but I was ten why would the decision be up to me?
I was happy in Belfast and hated
leaving it behind. We packed the house and our life up, all ready to move. In
August I went to summer camp. I left to go to camp from Belfast but a week
later when camp finished I went to Bangor. During the week I was away my family
had moved house. It was a weird experience and a new chapter and challenge in
my life.
My life had changed, no longer
carefree, no longer surrounded by love and friendship. I still had my family. I had to rebuild my
life in a town which I didn’t know and where I knew no one. Moving from primary school to secondary
school is always hard but for me it seemed harder, I knew no one. Most people
knew someone else as they had been to primary school together, but I knew no
one. I was lonely. I was sad.
Moving church was hard, there was
no one handing out fruit pastilles or polo mints to me, there were no friends
to sit beside. I was new and everyone
was in a friendship group, it was hard.
Life was different. I was eleven now and had to grow up and leave my
childhood behind. I was eleven and this
was when my worries started to come. I was eleven and the world was changing.
First thing we had to deal with
in Bangor was our church being partly destroyed due to an IRA car bomb on
Bangor Main Street. Life was changing,
the troubles and worries of life were beginning. How can life change so much between being ten
and being eleven?
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