Rebecca+Welch

Why? Why? Why in the world would my mother choose to move now? Everything is going right. I have all my friends. I have my park. I have my house. How could New Jersey have anything to rival that? I’ve seen New Jersey. All the air is thick with pollution while here in Texas it’s clear as anything. My blood is Texas through and through. This is what I thought when I was first told that my lifelong reign as Queen of Texas was ending, and soon. As you can see I wasn’t exactly ecstatic about the move. Three months before my mom said we were to leave was when I was told. I had but three months to say goodbye, pack up my whole life into a couple of boxes, and make an attempt to influence my parents into staying. I had many plans, but none of them worked, and three months passed in the blink of an eye… “Mom please, my whole life is in Texas.” This was my last chance to persuade her onto the path of righteousness (staying in Texas.) “No.” At the time I couldn’t believe that she had ended my old life with nothing but a no. Her no had been said nonetheless. I now had to pack all I wanted to bring to New Jersey something I had been neglecting to do in hopes that I would be allowed to stay. I found a bag for all the activities I would do while we drove to //New Jersey.// I would be bringing my books, comfortable clothes for hours spent in the __car__, and some small electronic toys. I also saved a Wizard of Oz DVD from a trip in the trunk. “Mom, where’s my jacket?” desperation seeped into my voice unwarranted. “I packed it,” my mom shouted out, “Then what am I going to wear when it gets cold?” My desperation had given way to anger. “In your ‘stay with you’ bag, and don’t speak to me with that tone,” my mom reprimanded me for my anger. “Sorry Mom.” I had tried to keep the anger out of my voice so I could be on my way. “It’s okay honey. I know you’re upset that we’re leaving,” my mom analyzed. Today was the day we were to leave. It was 5:00 in the morning. I know, even now I don’t wake up that early. We were to leave in an hour after saying goodbye to the Steeles (our closest friends in Austin.) Everyone in our house had somebody to say goodbye to. I had to say goodbye to Michael, Hope to Tucker, Mom to Danielle, and Dad to Greg. “We’re leaving now,” my dad’s voice rumbled down the stairs. The Steeles had come and gone and their visit had not weakened their nerves. There was no getting around it; I was definitely going to have to move. My bag already in the car, I was ready to go. “Everyone in the car?” my dad laughed. (It was pretty obvious that everyone was.) My old life was not over yet. Sure we had sold our house, but that didn’t mean anything. We were seeing my father’s old friend from __college__. At the time I thought that seeing his old friend would make him turn back to a life in Texas. I settled in ready for the long drive if we were to make it to Dallas by nightfall. “Honey, we’re here,” my dad whispered softly. We were there, at the Nance’s house. The truth is we were as fond of our “aunt and uncle” as my parents were. I thought if nothing good came out of this crazy fantasy of moving to New Jersey we would visit the Nances. “Hope you hear that? We’re here.” It was hard to conceal my excitement. She hurriedly pulled on her jacket. Too excited to worry about the winter chill outside I ran out of the car and up to the house, bouncing to keep warm. “Hey you gonna help us down here?” my mom called sleepily. Oh right we had to bring our sleeping stuff. I didn’t really care, but I knew we would not go inside until we all carried what we needed to the doorstep. Coming outside was… “Uncle Jim!” My exclamation of joy was unhindered by the dead of night surrounding us. “Hey, how you doin?” Uncle Jim’s smile was easily seen even in the dark. “Come on in. Now the girls are asleep so we gotta be quiet.” It was really good seeing him. We walked in quietly and slowly readied ourselves for bed. After sleeping less than we probably should have, we rushed down the stairs to the smell of fresh pancakes. All day we caught up. My parents didn’t realize the time until it was too late. Suddenly my dad sat up and remembered, “Sorry, but I have to get some miles behind us today, good seeing you man.” Quickly we packed up everything and loaded back into the car. Red, yellow, and orange had streaked the sky. At the time the sunset was just a pretty thing to look at, but now I realized it was for me and my old life. Falling asleep well after my sister and mother I slept like a rock and when I woke to the sun and my mom at the wheel I was not surprised. Invigorated by the sleep I gave Mojo, my dog, a stroke, his fur still silky and black at the time. Breathing in the stiff air of the car, I smelled the grotesque yet somehow savory scent of a fast food restaurant. When my mother noticed I was awake, she passed my usual breakfast order to me. Ahh Sonic. That’s another thing New Jersey didn’t have until very recently. Anyway, I quickly devoured the burrito, and took a big drink of the soda that had been passed along with it. “What state are we in?” I inquired noisily. Awaking with a gasp, my father sat up. I looked abashed, “Sorry, I didn’t know you were sleeping.” “’Sokay,’” my dad replied sleepily. “Tennessee,” my mom answered over shoulder. “They’re a bunch of cowboys and housewives,” I sneered. Okay I sense the irony in that. Since I’ve lived in New Jersey many an uneducated peer has queried whether or not I was a cowboy when I lived in Texas. Yes, a cow**//boy//**. “There are cowb- oh look how pretty that is!” My sister’s sentence cut off as she exclaimed in awe at the beauty of the flurries of white falling from the skies as if God had a bad case of dandruff. But it was much prettier than that. My mom drove off the highway, swerved the car to one side of the car, slammed the door shut, and pulled Hope out. My dad had taken care of me, but instead of pulling me, he carried me. Squirming to get out of his iron clad grip, I did not have time to prepare myself for the fall as my dad dropped me into a large pile of the white, well, for the lack of a better word, stuff. It was soft but cold. Now I felt the need to ask what all this was, “Daddy what is this?” A short gasp of a laugh came from my father’s mouth. Suddenly his smile faded. Now I assume that it was because he remembered that we had not lived in a place conducive to the snow falling from the almost white sky. “Why it’s snow honey.” To this day I’m still not sure why, but his light southern accent transformed into one of those whose family has lived in Texas for generations. You see, neither my dad nor my mom was born in Texas. They were born in New Jersey quite unlike me and my sister. That’s why we’re leaving //to be closer to family//. My eyes widened incredulously. From the corner of my eye, I saw my sister’s eyes do the same. Where we lived snow was a small amount on the boards of each fence. “Okay, well let’s stop caring about what it is. Instead let’s focus on what fun things we can do with it,” my dad roared, “SNOWBALL FIGHT!!!” Mom and Dad immediately knelt down and began shaping the fluffy white dusting of the field we had driven onto. My parents only threw them at each other until we had watched long enough to join in. Then it was a full out battle-every man for themselves. There were no rules. At one point I had gone into the car and took a large plastic serving bowl, filled it with snow and dumped it onto my mother’s head.(I would’ve done it to my dad but his head was too high.) At another point my dad let my dog out of the car, dumped snow onto his back, and urged the dog to attack the rest of us. After around thirty minutes, we loaded back into the car, faces red and covered in snow. The rest of the ride passed as a normal car ride. More times than once I thought that if that snowball fight was a regular thing in New Jersey then maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. The life I was heading to was far from certain and I didn’t know what was waiting for me, but my parents promised it would be good. For all my complaining, I believed them. Perhaps if I’d stayed in Texas my life would be better, but then perhaps not. I still miss the life I left behind, but I’ve embraced my new life. New friends, a new, if slightly smaller house, and family are my new life, and it’s pretty great.

Why do you smoke?

Throughout my life, I’ve often wondered why people smoke. I just didn’t get it. I mean why a person would willingly draw smoke into their body doesn’t make sense to me. The first time most people smoke, they have a coughing fit. Why if the first experience is so horrible do they continue to smoke? Many people when asked why they smoke they give answers like “I don’t know, why not,” “It helps with stress,” or “It helps me stay thin.” So let me ask you, why DO you smoke?

I asked you that question because the reasons given to me did not clarify why people smoke. “I don’t know, why not?” is not an answer. You are ruining your life because you can’t think of a reason why not. Let me tell you why not. 5.4 million deaths each year are attributed to smoking. So, smoking “helps you stay thin?” How bad is it that when smoking makes you nauseous enough that you do not want to eat, you think not that you should stop but that it keeps you thin? The only reason that smoking helps with stress is because you crave it so. Not only is smoking horrible for your own life it is just inconsiderate to others. Walking through the city- New York City that is- I often caught the putrid scent of tobacco scent, but the worst was when I walked up 5th avenue. All along the street there were groups of people smoking and blowing it outside the group so as to not upset them. Unfortunately, I was not in the group and I could not help but gag on the long line of smoke coming from the long line of smokers. I tried to hold my breath for as long as the smoke was still there, but the line was too long. Breathing heavily I could not be in the line any longer. I ran. Once I was out I gasped and breathed in the fresh air. I could not see how the people in the line could put up with that. Ever since this I have wondered how smokers- well smoke. Do you still know why you smoke?

There is nothing I hate more than smoking. It ruins lives. It ruins families. It ruins health. That’s all it does. Sure some may claim that smoking helps them, but that is no truer than it was in the paragraph above. Not only does it ruin people- it ruins the earth. Hundreds of years from now, maybe sooner than that, we, as the human race will feel the wrath that was brought on upon us because of smoking. Don’t do this to others. Don’t do this to the environment. Don’t do this to yourself.