I could be mad at my mother for giving me my first name, but what good would that do.  I just hate it when other kids make fun of it; this is when I wish I could have my name changed.

My name is Haggatha Rose Milsap.  I am 11 years old.  I live in Nashville, Tennessee, with my mom, dad, little brother, and older sister.  I just started fifth grade last week; not sure as to whether I like school yet or not.  It's too soon to tell right now.

I have long red hair and brown eyes.  I am fairly short and chunky; not fat, but definitely not skinny, either.  I'm sort of right in the middle, about average I guess.  I look like my mom.  My dad is tall with brown hair and blue-green eyes, sort of like the color of this font I'm using.  LOL   They're actually kind of pretty.

My sister's name is Tereva Joy; she's thirteen.  As for my brother, his name is Edwin Ronald, but everyone calls him E.R. or Eddie for short.  He's seven.  He's also handicapped:  he is very hard of hearing (he wears hearing aids), and he is legally blind; he wears thick glasses and has to have help getting around.

Eddie was born premature; when he was born he was very, very tiny.  He weighed something like 10 ounces or something; he was smaller than a Coke can.  It was a miracle he survived.  He was in the hospital for six months after he was born until he was well enough to come home; when he did, he was on oxygen for nearly two years until his lungs got stronger and bigger.

I am a typical kid.  I like to sing (want to be a country-pop singer, like my favorite, Taylor Swift), read, write stories or poetry, hang out with my friends, go shopping every Saturday at the mall, talk on the phone, play on the computer, collect WebKins (right now I have nearly 100 WebKins in my collection!), roller skate, ice skate, dance (ballet and jazz/modern, mostly; I also tap dance and clog), and watch "America's Got Talent" on television.

If I don't make it as a singer, I want to be either a defense lawyer, a teacher to kids with special needs, or a journalist and travel the world.  I think that would be neat.

I am a happy, well-adjusted kid, as you can see; the only thing I am not happy about is  my name.  Haggatha.  That sounds more like a name for a witch than a preteen girl like me!  I get picked on about it; that is probably the main reason why I'd rather have a name like Rowena, Elizabeth, or perhaps Heather or Hannah.  I was named after my great-grandma, who died when I was two; I never knew her, but mom liked the name, so that's how I came to be named Haggatha.

Well, I am at school as I write this, so I had better go before Mr. Riley, my teacher, catches me writing instead of working on my math.  I will write in here again soon; until then, this is Haggatha Milsap saying over and out!  Bye now!

~Haggatha Rose Milsap, aged 11, Nashville, Tennessee.

*to be continued.*