The Gratitude Attitude

Gratitude is a funny thing. Especially when you don’t really mean it. As a teenager, can you remember how many times you’ve walked down the hallway on Christmas morning. Opened the very first gift that you’ve received. Glared at it for a moment, forced a smile and used the common phrase, “Oh. It’s perfect!”. And what is it? Another one of grandma’s knitted, kitten sweaters four sizes too small. I mean, do you look like a nine year old?

That kind of thing happens to me all the time. Not by my parents or siblings, but by relatives outside of my immediate family. For Christmas a couple years ago, my great grandmother that I see about once a year gave me a gift for both Christmas and Birthday . I was expecting the usual ten or twenty dollar bill. But as soon as the gift was opened, I realized that my great grandmother thought I was a little younger than I was, for inside was a pair of Minnie-Mouse socks the size I would have worn about five years before. The worst part was that she had accidentally left the price tag that had $5 printed big and bold. However, that was nothing compared to the barbie doll, or the fashion designers kit I had received that same year.

My point is that every single time a person is given something that they think is ‘childish’, it makes them feel like their relatives don’t really know them, or understand how old they are. But in doing that, and having those thoughts, we miss out on the really special part of receiving gifts. That is that those aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws and grandparents are just trying to give you something nice. Not something to remind you that you’re still a minor. Not something to tell you that no one cares about how you feel. Just to tell you that you are loved.

When you are in the awkward stages of High School, and you are starting to figure out who you are, consider that no one really knows what you like or dislike just yet. Yes, you have a personality, and a mind and you do want to receive something that you are actually going to use more than the one time that everyone is watching you. But that doesn’t mean that you should be rude or even just angry about it. Work on that gratitude. Work on that attitude. And keep faking that smile because you know that they love you anyway.

Welcome Home!

Welcome Home Everyone!

   

2016. A year full of grace and promise. An ‘untouched’ year without any mistakes yet. A year to make us feel old and to remind us that anyone born in the year of 2000 is now, or soon will be, 16 years old. That would be me. I was born in 2000.

It’s nice. As time flies by and I start to forget how old I am, all that I will have to do is remember what year it is. 2028, 2032, 2087, 3000… the real question is, is that a curse or a blessing?

Hi. I’m Alison. Blogger, Highschooler and, oh… did I mention I’m homeschooled? For seven long years.

The story of why is a mystery to me. Perhaps it is because my mom decided that she didn’t want to send me to the local middle school that I was about to enter in another town (we moved away), or maybe it was the fact that she had a friend homeschooling(her own kids) at the same time, and wanted to try it out for herself. Either way, I ended up homeschooled :)

However, a more interesting story to tell is of how this blog started. You see, last semester, my first year of highschool, the co-op that I go to offered a newspaper class to teach a few of the older kids in our little ‘school’ how to write. My cousin, an x-journalist and editor for an award winning paper, was the new teacher. My first week of writing on a strict deadline was, to say it bluntly, terrible. The ‘subject’ of my first article was a male teacher that sparked the interest of the majority of the school. I emailed him with a list of questions such as, what made you want to become a teacher or why are you so good at what you do… that sort of thing. Saddly, the teacher never wrote me back, and with a deadline just days away, I texted my cousin in panic of what to do. Without my article, I could hurt the ‘flow’ or ‘order’ of the newspaper, on the first week!

Together, we brainstormed until my mom suggested the obvious… “Why not write a weekly column?”. That was what started ‘Homeschooling in Highschool’ with Alison. As the weeks went by, the older newspapers were thrown away and deleted. But I saved my articles, hoping that soon, I could use the hours spent of good writing in something else. Well, it wasn’t hard to come up with a blog. And so, here I am. Blogging for an entire semester. So, when you read these posts and laugh at them because you either think that they are funny or that the writing is terrible, know that they have been reviewed, edited and written with love for those who are willing to read them. Thank you for reading my bio, and for not being, what we call in journalism, a ‘lazy’ reader.

                                                             ~Alison Hope