"Oh she is so cute and cuddly like a teddy bear." My mom gushed to my dad. That is when I got the nickname; bear. Unlike my twin sister, I liked to be held and "cuddle" with my mom where as my sister would just arch her back like a gymnast going into a back bend when she didn't want to be held, which happened to be always. I never knew that as a baby, the name would stick with me to this day, but because my grandpa (Pop-Pop) is the biggest social butterfly you will ever meet, the name bear spread like a mixed contagion to my whole family, which started with a family of nine siblings, there was a lot of people. From then on every time the whole family meets up for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner and little kids would chase each other around the dinning table and their giggles would absorb through the walls and travel through the whole house. Or they would be making all these obnoxious noises like pounding keys on the grand piano until three in the morning or shaking Christmas gifts to guess the goody beyond the wrapping. The only way family members could get my attention over what sometimes felt like pandemonium, was to call me by my nickname because it didn't sound like any of my other cousins names. I wonder what will happen when they are trying to call Alexander or Alexandra.
When my youngest sister Aspen was born, I was as excited as I was when I found out that I was going to Disney World. I strutted around my first grade class in my "I'm the biggest sister" (I'm the oldest of four) T-shirt and bragged about how I was gonna babysit her and feed her and change her diapers. I tried to teach her my name, but secretly my mom was teaching her "bear-bear" and that's what she called me her toddler years. Then my cousin was born and Aspen rubbed it off on her too. Now everyone in the family had become accustomed to calling me "bear" or "bear bear". On one of my birthdays, they wrote "bear" on my cake and every birthday card I got said "dear bear", or "bear,". Every time my grandparents called me they would call me "bear" or when I visited them or they visited me, they called me "bear". I visited them in Christmas one year when it snowed but instead of playing outside, I stayed huddled in a ball by the crackling fire and their excuse for my absence in the snow was that "bears hibernate during winter".
When I was younger I hated it when they called me "bear" because everyone called me it and even today I crinkle my nose when ever my parents call me "bear in front of my friends. However like other sayings or words we have in our family "Whatcha talking about Willis." "What's up" or "Oohhh!" with the eyelashes batting, it's our inside stories that connect us and give us stuff to talk about. So even though "bear"can get embarrassing or annoying at times, it came from a very special person to me and it was a word from her heart, so I will always keep it mine.
MS(3) Great rough draft, I enjoyed how you started with your story and there is a good mix of story and personal reflection throughout it. Please watch out for tense shifts (going from past to present in the same sentence). What is missing is a bit more reflection on how you feel about them using it. Do you like it? Are your tired of it? Do you hope to keep it until your old and be called 'mama bear' and call your daughter baby bear haha. I want to hear more from your side especially in the conclusion (you have some but there needs to be more).
ReplyDeleteI like how your word was a name that your family have to you and why you are called it. Your Essay also has a good Timeline to it. It explains how you are called the name and when you are called the name. The fact that you are still called the name today makes your Essay better. Good Essay Overall
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the story on how you got the name "bear."
ReplyDeleteYour paragraphs are very neat! I noticed you would switch from present to past tense, I'd change those sentences. Overall I enjoyed your essay, it was very entertaining and neatly formatted!