Dear Senior Memory Book,

            Middle School was a good time for me, because I was finally making lasting friendships. Most of the friendships I have now started in middle school. One of my good friendships started in 7^th grade when he and I discovered we had all but two hours together and we liked to do a lot of the same things. He got me to sign up for JROTC club with him and we did many things like learning some basic drill team commands, repelling, and zip lining off of the repel tower.

            My first dance was the 7^th grade fall dance; I believe the theme of the night was the 80s. I thought I was a good dancer, but looking back now I look like a complete goof, but who doesn’t the first dance they ever been to. I met one of my girl friends at that dance. She was in my Intro to Spanish class and I never really noticed her until she came up to me and asked me if I wanted to dance. I was nervous and didn’t know how to slow dance so I looked around and did as everyone else was doing. With in the next few weeks she asked me out and I thought it was cool that an 8^th grader wanted to go out with me so I accepted. We dated for 2 months and then split up and I haven’t seen her since middle school.

Dear Senior Memory Book,

            I cannot remember who my very fist crush was, but one of my crushes that I can remember was one of my best friends in fifth grade. She was a little taller than I was at the time and she had one of the most amazing smiles I have seen. We were always flirting with each other and playing with each other on the playground.

Her and I were together in Mrs. Power’s homeroom class. Some memories I have that I can remember include when I came to class with a mohawk and she said it was as tall as a pencil or on Valentines Day when I gave her a special card that was bigger than all the rest. At lunch she would sit next to me and we would trade lunches.

If she was interested in me back I cant recall if she ever really showed any signs of it. Although we spent a lot of time together I was never sure that she liked me as anything more than a friend. I was planning to ask her to be my girlfriend on the last day of fifth grade year, but I chickened out at the last minute. I believe that it was for the best that we never got together because I never really got to see her after that. In sixth grade and on I didn’t have any classes with her.

Dear Senior Memory Book,

            The town I currently live in, Monett, is where I grew up. I spent my first five or six years of my life living at my grandparents house on their ten acres outside of town. My grandparent’s house was a doublewide trailer with a playhouse, a trampoline, and a pool in the enclosed front yard. I spent my days playing in the yard pretending to be the action heroes I saw on the television.

Behind my grandparent’s trailer was my aunt’s house and behind that was my uncle’s workshop that was merely a singlewide trailer with tools and car parts on the floor. My uncle and other aunt lived behind the shop and I used to visit them almost everyday helping with the chores and talking with them.

Back then the pond behind their house was always full of water and life. I would sit out on the edge of the water and listen to the frogs croak and the birds sing. The dragonflies would land on the lily pads just to be scooped up unexpectedly by a frog that was waiting in ambush. Many minutes of my young life were wasted trying to catch all of these creatures.

Dear Senior Memory Book,

             My fourth grade year was the only year I spent entirely in Chouteau Oklahoma. I cannot remember my fourth grade teacher’s name I only remember that she was a middle-aged woman who loved to teach. I remember that she liked to make origami and I can still remember some of the origami figures she taught us to make.

            I started my fifth grade year in Chouteau but moved back to Monett before the end of the first quarter. Mrs. Powers was my homeroom teacher. Her main subject was math but also taught us reading and writing. Science class with Mrs. Huntress was probably my favorite class. We learned about plants and animals in her class. For some reason we always did some math in our social studies class. Also we learned about our state and the Native Americans.

            Sixth grade year my homeroom teacher was Mrs. Rutherford, our reading teacher. After reading we went to science class and learned about earth sciences.

Communication arts class was next and the teacher sometimes brought her guitar into class. I don’t remember much about my geography class or the teacher, but I do remember winning the school wide geography bee. Hot topics was a math class where we learned how to problem solve with brain teasers and word problems. Mrs. Head was my math teacher and I don’t think many people liked her. She had a problem where she would constantly blink I found myself wondering how she moved around the room without tripping on something.

Dear Senior Memory Book,

            I can still remember my first day of kindergarten at Monett Elementary and how I was so nervous and afraid. I put my things in my cubby and went into the classroom. I cannot remember my teacher’s name but I do remember that I had a little crush on her.

            Some memories of my early years in elementary school are when two girls chanting the K-I-S-S-I-N-G song were chasing my girlfriend at the time and I during recess or playing computer games in my first grade class. I can still remember doing a project on hammerhead sharks in the third grade and learning songs to help me learn my multiplication tables. At recess I was always playing on the monkey bars and the jungle gyms. My early years of school were great and sometimes I wish I were still in elementary school with recess, naptime, and show and tell.

Dear Senior Memory Book,

            My earliest memory I think is I am riding in a car with my dad’s girlfriend at the time and we are going to pick up my birthday cake. At the party my grandma, my dad and his girlfriend, and some of their friends were there; after the party was over I went to bed in my racecar bed. I cannot remember if it is actually true or if it was a figment of my imagination.

            Another memory of mine was made in kindergarten. It was my turn for show and tell so I decided to ask my mom if I could show and tell my new baby sister. At the end of the day my mom brought my sister Amanda into class and I showed her off. I thought it was so cool that I showed my baby sister and everyone seemed to enjoy having a baby in the room.

Dear Senior Memory Book,

            My mom was born January 11, 1977 as Margaretta C. Armstrong and grew up in the St. Louis area with her mother, father, and brothers. She is my grandparent’s only daughter and she is the second youngest out of her siblings. Her childhood was spent in and out of foster care and she spent much of her teen years as a rebel and dropped out of school. She met my father when she was in her late teens.

            November 22, 1970 was the day my father was born and his name is Daniel Paul Skipper II; he grew up in Oklahoma in a town near Pryor. My grandma, Linda, and her husband, at the time, raised him and his younger sister Tracy. He has always been interested in cars and working on them. His mom moved to Monett and got married and he met my mom when he was staying at my grandma and grandpas house.