A young teenaged girl, aged 14, tells people how she really is inside and why.
I am 14 years old, and I am now officially a teenager. I have been a teenager for one year now, and it has been a journey full of incredible ups and downs.
My name is Barbara, and I am 14, as I just said. I turned 14 in March, and I am fairly short for my age (4'11" as of this writing and still growing), and I have long, blonde hair that I either wear loose or tied back in a ponytail when the weather is hot or if I am playing sports. (I wear it this way to keep it out of my face when I am playing.) I have brown eyes, and I think I am rather plain looking. I am not a knockout or anything.
I live in Nashville, Tennessee, with my adoptive family, and I have many brothers and sisters, some of them older, some near my age, and some younger. We are a family made up of kids from all nations: Black, Oriental, Native American Indian, Caucasian, Hispanic. (I am Caucasian, as you might have guessed.) I get along well with my family, but the kids who are younger than me sometimes drive me crazy. My parents are okay, especially my Maman*, as far as parents go, but they are strict, and they don't let us overstep our boundaries, or there WILL be consequences.
I was born in Louisiana, in Church Point, and I was orphaned at the age of six; but I was then adopted at the age of nine by the family I live with now, and I have been here in Tennessee ever since. I love Tennessee; it isn't as hot or humid as Louisiana, and here in Tennessee, you have 4 seasons, not two. (In Louisiana, you have either winter OR summer; there is usually no happy medium, and it is UNGODLY humid there! And the maringuoins: SHEESH!) I was an only child until the age of nine; and now I have brothers and sisters coming out of my ears! LOL
I am an active kid: that is, I play sports to keep in shape, and besides, I enjoy the exercise and just being out in the fresh air. I am not in any organized sports teams at school, but I DO enjoy playing football (yes, FOOTBALL), soccer, baseball, softball, and volleyball. I also love to play kickball and run track. I am really fast and light on my feet, and people at school call me "Cheetah" 'cause I am so fast on my feet!
I also love to play music. I don't sing well enough to save my life (I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket), but I DO play music. I play the Cajun French accordion, and I also mess around some on the fiddle and guitar. I love Cajun and country music, and I always have. I also love Broadway and show tunes. I don't much care for rock or rap music, which is what most kids my age listen to. My friends tease me 'cause I love country music, but I tell them to blow it out their ear and to leave me alone!
Another thing I enjoy is going to church each and every week. My family and I attend a Pentecostal church here in Nashville, and we get so much out of it. We all go to Christ Community Assembly of God Church, and our pastor is Mr. Bruce W. Bilkey. I have many friends at church, and I love learning about the Lord and spending time reading the Bible and just listening to the soul-stirring praise and worship music! I also love it when the Glory of the Lord comes down; I can handle that all day!
Going to church keeps me focused, and it keeps me aware of my life and my actions. I don't want to disappoint God, and I want to do all I can to ensure my place in Heaven, so this is why I don't get into trouble. Sure, I CAN get mouthy at times (ALL teens do at times), but I am just a kid, and sometimes my mouth gets the better of me. (My daddy sometimes calls me "Bugle Mouth" 'cause I don't know when to shut up at times! LOL)
I feel sorry for kids who don't have a stable family environment that I do. Too many kids today are having sex at younger and younger ages, and some are even becoming parents. Or they are getting involved in things like drugs, alcohol, or gangs, and I hear all too often of teens doing incredibly horrible things to people. I wonder what their parents think, and I wonder if their parents even CARE, or they wouldn't be getting into all this stuff. I may have curfew, and I may have rules to obey in MY family, but at least I have a family who LOVES me and CARES for me!
(I wouldn't have it any other way!)
I may be a teenager, but I am not like a lot of teenagers. Boys, rock music, video games, most of the movies, and clothes just don't interest me. My interests lie more in the way of family togetherness, music (and NOT rock or rap!), church business, or exercise. I often get teased by other kids about my likes or my choices, but hey..I like what I do, and nobody is going to try to convince me to change! I am my own person, and I will like things of MY own choosing! And besides, I can't date for at least 2 more years (and don't have ANY desire to; I am too busy having fun and being a kid right now as it is!).
Whenever I see kids my age getting into trouble, I always feel sad because they don't have it as good as I do, and I wonder why they have chosen the wrong paths. They could be so much happier if only they had a loving family environment, and they had the love and nurturing that I am getting from my own family. They also don't have God in their lives, and that makes me sad too because since I have accepted God into MY life, things for me have gotten so much easier, and life is SO much easier to deal with!
Kids today don't understand what it means to be loved, and they don't understand the repercussions of their actions, and they don't understand that discipline is supposed to HELP them, NOT to hinder them! That is another thing that is missing in today's society: good, old-fashioned discipline. Then people wonder why kids today are so bad and just don't care.
I am thankful to be living in the family environment I am because through my family, I have learned tolerance, love, acceptance of people who are different, faith, obedience, satisfaction in my choices, and knowing that they will be behind me in whatever I do, and if I fail, they won't be ashamed of me.
If other teenagers only could experience the joys I have had in my life....then the world would be a much better place, don't you think??
It is great that this little girl realizes that she doesn't have to fall to peer pressure like most kids who end up in trouble. good story Karen. hugs Grady
Reviewed by serenety L
5/27/2003
Hi Karen. This is again such a beautiful story. I asked before: where do you get your ideas from? A great example that should be shown to other teenagers to give them a clue about what is important in life. Love. S
Reviewed by Robert Blackwell
5/27/2003
Fiction? Or, biography? I cannot decide; such is your skill.
(((ohhhh, karen))) i really loved reading this...you got right in this girl's head and presented her life SO clearly...her dreams, aspirations, likes and dislikes...i feel like i know her now! well done! i'd like to read more about barbara! (((HUGS))) and love, karla. :)
Ezra's a closeted medium. She's a novelist who writes stories about seeing dead people and claims they're fiction. Her life with Grant was peaceful until a rebel ghost named Jenna entered her life who doesn't like Grant. Allie, the resident ghost, li
