Our senior’s English homework:
I was a funny kid. Always happy and full of energy. I was imaginative and had hundreds of creative ideas. I always used to like dressing up in costumes. My favorite was Buzz Lightyear. I would dress up as him all the time and reenact scenes from my favorite movie, Toy Story. When I was dressed in my regular clothes, I called myself Tim Allen.
My parents got a new car when I was 5 years old. A black Volvo V70. They made the license plate say “2INFBYD” for to infinity and beyond, because of…well…yeah, you get it. One of my other favorite things were matchbox cars. I would play with them all the time and have races with my younger brother. So one time, I thought it would be hilarious to take my cars and race them on the side of our new Volvo. Then I thought, maybe that’s not such a good idea…but I went ahead and did it anyways. I got my brother in on it too and we had a wonderful time. I’m pretty sure I won the last race but my brother said he did. He’s such a cheater. Anyways, I stood back and looked at the white scratch marks on the side of the black station wagon. When my parents saw the car they said, “Wow! You guys made racing stripes?! Awesome!!” Wait, that may have been what I was thinking. But seriously, my parents were furious. I cannot remember what punishment they gave me for doing such a thing. Eventually, my Dad took the car to a shop and got most of the scratches painted out. Right now, I’m pretty sure they’re over it.
I am currently driving this car today and can still see the scratch marks. Even though I like nice cars, I am not ashamed to be driving it, because they remind me of my childhood and how much fun I had as a kid. They remind me of my flaws and how I can look back and laugh at them. But I guess in my defense, it seemed like a good idea at the time.