2. Changing Fortunes (80’s theme & 3 stars)

I picked this writing activity because I like reading fortune cookies. Most of the time, I believe they can pertain to one’s life in some aspect or another. I am connecting this fortune to our class theme, the 80’s. The fortune is “Embrace change, don’t fight it!” If people did not embrace change from the 80’s we may still be carrying around phones that look like bricks or perms still being in style.

1. Another Day (4 stars)

After reading this assignment, I went through my photos and came across this picture I took a few years ago in Nevada. This picture does not have any filter or was ever edited, which is hard to find these days. Looking at this picture, it makes me feel relaxed instantly. I came across this quote and thought it fitted well with this assignment. “Never waste any amount of time doing anything important when there is a sunset outside that you should be sitting under!” ? C. JoyBell C.

2. Changing Fortunes (80’s theme & 3 stars)

I picked this writing activity because I like reading fortune cookies. Most of the time, I believe they can pertain to one’s life in some aspect or another. I am connecting this fortune to our class theme, the 80’s. The fortune is “Embrace change, don’t fight it!” If people did not embrace change from the 80’s we may still be carrying around phones that look like bricks or perms still being in style.

3. To my mom (4 stars)

Mom, I can’t thank you enough for that that you have done for me. You always know how to make me laugh when I am sad and calm me down when I am mad. Thank you for always encouraging me to be my best whether it’s with sports, school, or relationships, you always know what to say. I hope to be like you when I group up! You wear 100 different hats every day and make it look so easy. Love you!

4. Extra Extra Read All About It (80’s theme & 3 stars)

For this assignment, I watched 25 minutes of Full House (S1:E1.) The directions were to pay special attention to the extras in it. Note their acting skills, what they’re wearing? How many extras did the show have? Did any of them talk? What were their ages?
The show started in the Fuller house where there were no extras or people in the background. After 15 minutes, a woman rang the doorbell. She was tall with blond hair and was dressed up looking for Uncle Jessie. I’m not sure if I would consider her an extra but she is the only person who appeared in the show who was not living at the Fuller house. I thought there would be more extras in this episode but, I was wrong.

Hi mommy, sorry to expose you like this! I just had to share your beautifulness with my blog!

I am writing this letter to you for a multitude of reasons. Some happy, encouraging reasons and some deep sad ones too. But regardless, I hope you enjoy this message!

Mommy, I just want to start off by giving you some PRAISE! You are a tough mama bear. I don’t understand how you do the whole “Mom” thing so well. You give and give and GIVE all your time, love, energy, and effort into EVERYTHING you do! You have a full-time job, you have three kids (granted two are technically in college, but they still are your children!), you go to church, you get your time with all your lady friends, you’re working on preserving a friendship with Dad, and the hardest of all these tasks… YOU’RE A MOM! YOU ARE 100% MAMA GOALS!!!!!

You’re the mom that every other mom strives to be. The way you raised your kids, all the other moms envy that! Your beautiful YOU, EVERYONE WANTS THAT! The way you raised me, Emy, and Bianca, was perfect. You have helped me grow into the person I am today, and are an amazing role model for who I strive to be like! I wish that I can someday surmount to at least 5% of the great mom you turned out to be!

Now that I think about it, you are the person who I confide all my secrets in. Ya know how you are supposed to have that best friend growing up, and you tell them EVERYTHING? THAT PERSON WAS YOU! I asked you all my dumb questions, looked to you when I needed advice, ran to you when I was scared, when I had a bad day, shared all my deepest feelings with you, and you were there for me through it all. And you still are today! I thank you so very much for all that and more, mom. Thank you for everything that you have done, are doing, will do, just ALL OF IT. I can’t say thank you enough. Thank you for dealing with me for all these years, for giving me what you could, for raising me in such a caring and loving way, for being patient with me, for helping me even when you had stuff you needed help with.

Great, now I am crying! HAHAHA! One of my biggest fears is how I know I will never even come close to all the greatness you have achieved. I want to be something you are proud of. I want to try to help you if I can. I just want to be something great in your eyes. And I fear that I won’t. Honestly, I think its because you can be so intimidating at times. You are A LOT to live up to mama! (I mean that in an encouraging way mommy!)

I know you have doubts as a mom and about the choices you have made. But I’m want to remind you:

You did and you’re doing everything right. PERIOD.

Let me say it one more time! You are doing EVERYTHING right. All the choices you have made are the right ones. All the choices you will make in the future will be the right ones. Even if I might not be able to see they’re right, THEY’RE MOST DEFINITELY RIGHT.

So keep it up mama! You’re an amazing person that I am so grateful God chose you to be my mom. Mine! I love you so sosososososo very much. And even if we grow apart at times, I still and always will love you! No matter what! I am sending an electronic hug your way! Love ya Jenny from the Block! <3

Dear Mom,

Moms in general are all special but, you are extraordinary. We have been through quite the rough patches and, each time you have proven to be stronger than I thought. I can’t even imagine how hard it is raising 2 kids and 2 dogs on your own. You are incredible, intelligent, and strong-willed.

I apologize for every time when I was a teenager acting like a bratty teenager. People always tell you when you’re young that you will grow closer to your mom and you never believe it. This time I will swallow my pride and admit they were right. Mom, you are one of my best friends. I love that we share everything and I can always confide in you now. Your unconditional love is something I often take for granted. Despite any mistakes I have made or trouble I have caused you, you love me nonetheless.

I will admit my family is a mess and I empathize with every single person whose family drives them crazy. But, my mother makes up for it, despite being a little crazy too. Some people have huge extended families as their support system; motivating them through life and being great role models. Other people have non-blood relatives who they count as their family. I have my mother and, we may not be big in numbers but we are all we need. Some people have perfect families, others do not, I do not know where I fall in those categories. I do know that I am lucky to have a mother who would do anything for me and, I am grateful every day.

Mom, thank you for doing it all and being it all. I aspire to be just as strong and capable as you. You truly are superwoman, xo.

I did writing a letter to my mom for one of my writing assignments. This one http://assignments.ds106.us/assignments/to-my-mom/

Dear  Mom,

 I want to start by telling you that I love you so much. Words can’t express how much you have done for me and cared for me. You are a person that inspires me everyday and tells me to never give up on my dreams. I know there were sleepless night where you would stay up to take care of me to make sure I was protected, to make sure I was loved, to make sure I was clean, to make sure I was fed. You are the one person that always overlooked my faults. Your best treatment was the love you gave throughout my life. I know all the sacrifices you gave for me and all the compromises you did because of me. You are one of the strongest people I have seen, you would fight everyone and anyone for me. I want to thank you for always giving me good advice, Thank you for all the chores you did from the home-cooked meals to my laundry folded. Thank you for always putting me first, Thank you for your words of encouragement.  I am so thankful to be your daughter.

Your love,

Mariam 

My mom immigrated to this country in the late 1980’s. My mom tells me stories of the difficult time she had when they first came to U.S. My mom worked so she could provide for her family, her work sometimes left her tired not leaving enough time to spend with her children. My mom made many sacrifices during that time, she would often walk miles just to get the grocery because transportation was limited back in the days. My mom mentions that they were both advantages and disadvantages of living in the 80’s. One advantage is being able to communicate with people face to face. A disadvantage for her was to be away from her family and friends. My mom says things were definitely different in the 80’s but her happy place would be her children.

Dear Mom,

I want to start off by saying that I love you. There are
countless reasons why, more than I could ever begin to cover in this letter. I
will try to focus on a just a few of the reasons that you are the best mom I
could have ever asked for, along with one of my favorite people and best
friends.

From day one, you have always been there to support me. You
never pressured me to make decisions based on what you wanted, but always
encouraged me to do the right thing. When I made those decisions, you supported
me, whether you completely agreed with me or not. I will never be able to fully
express my gratitude for that. In particular, I want to thank you for making my
college decision process so easy. I know that I chose the right school, and it
is only because of your support and encouragement that I am here today.

I also want to let you know how much I respect you. You
taught me how to stand up for myself and encouraged me to be myself. You helped
strengthen my faith – not pushing anything on me, but allowing me to discover
things on my own, and come to you with questions. I aspire to be more like you.
You are one of my biggest role models.

The love and care that you show to everyone in your life
amazes me. You are always there for people who need you, even if they aren’t
there for you. This kind of selflessness is something that I hope to show in my
own life. There aren’t a whole lot of people like you around, and I can’t
believe I am lucky enough to have you as my mom.

So thank you for everything, for all the late nights conversations, tearful phone calls, stories told and wisdom shared. You have made me the person I am today. I love so much.

Kendall

This was in response to the “To My Mom” assignment. There are a lot more things I wish I could have said, but I did the best I could. I guess some things just can’t be expressed with words.

Mom,

I remember ever so clearly when I was ten years old telling you how I was going to be your problem child and boy was I right.

Now that I am almost 22 I often find myself wondering what I was thinking when i was growing up. I never talked to you, I did everything to avoid you I always felt like you never cared, that my sisters were more important because they were smarter and better behaved. I lashed out in school, disobey rules push boundaries just to get a reaction. I got a reaction just not the one I wanted.

I look back on all my mistakes I made when I was high school, how you could barely trust me to leave the house and come home safety. I lied about everywhere I was going I did some questionable things and made questionable decisions, I once thought, “how could she possibly love me after how many times I have made her cry?”

What I didn’t know or notice was every game you went to, every forty min trip you made to visit me, every 2 am phone call you answered, every time I cried you were there to hold me and tell everything was going to be OK. I made such a big mistake and I remember clearly calling you crying terrified that you would be mad at me but you weren’t…you picked me up and just hugged me and told me that you loved me. I spent so many years being ungrateful and acting out I didn’t deserve your love.

Now I look at you and me and all I see is my best friend. Since moving home from school, I have made the right decision every step of the way. You are my best friend, we do everything together. I never hesitated to help you after your surgeries or to help take care of you. I feel like I owe you for all the years that you spent painfully loving me as I gave you every reason to not love me. I wish I could take back all the pain I caused, but I can’t. I feel our relationship had to go through that in order to be where we are now, if i lost you I don’t know how I would continue on in this life. You are my everything mom and I am eternally grateful that I was given someone so loving as you.

My second writing assignment this week was to write a letter to my mom! I did this on Instagram with a cute animated picture of a mom and a baby that represents my mom and I. I enjoyed this assignment because I feel like most people don’t tell their parents everyday how much they appreciate them. After posting this, I made sure to send it to my mom. She worked a lot of cases Friday and she was exhausted so I think it was pretty nice for her to hear. In a way, I’m glad this assignment was an assignment because it made me reflect on how appreciative I truly am. It was a nice little idea. I hope this inspires others to reach out to their family and give them a quick shoutout and let them know they are appreciated! See below for my assignment!

This is probably the most vulnerable I could get. But it’s a writing prompt that I thought I would enjoy writing about, so here goes.

Dear Momma,

I don’t know where to start. You are the best mom I could have ever dreamed of. I feel like everyone says that about their mother, but you are truly amazing. If I could be half the mom you have been to me, I think I would be great, haha. There are infinite reasons why I love you, and why I think you are the greatest human to walk this earth. But there are a couple noteworthy moments i’ll talk about here.

Remember when Dad had to go to Bosnia? Afghanistan? Iraq? Korea? I know you remember; the pain you went through won’t let you forget. I actually don’t remember that much about it. All I remember was constantly being busy, from dance classes to children’s cooking challenges, having fun sleepovers and going to Borders to buy yet another book (and Little Caesars afterwards for some cheesy breadsticks). I don’t remember because you took that burden from me. All I have are good memories, and then suddenly Dad came home! 9 months, 15 months, 6 months. They flew by, and now I have but just a vague recollection of them. You are truly the epitome of a strong, protective mother.

But you didn’t have to stay that strong, protective mother for long. Pretty soon, I became extremely protective of you. I didn’t like when people weren’t nice to you in public because your english wasn’t amazing, and they treated you like a second-class citizen. This, I could see pretty early on. My anger got the best of me, and I would find myself filled with boiling hot rage. How were you able to stay so calm? How does so much class and poise fit into one human? You taught me to rise above people who were not able to comprehend and see pass differences in others-a skill I still am working on to this day.

You also saw and embraced the difference in me. When I came out to you and told you I liked girls when I was 19, you didn’t ridicule me or judge me. All I saw was love in your eyes, the same kind of love that I saw when I brought you a painted Christmas ornament I made at school for you, or when I left for college and you were helping me unpack my things in my freshman dorm room. You said that you loved and accepted me that day, no matter who I chose to love. And then I brought home Heather, and I saw your love multiply, for as you like to describe it, you got another daughter.

Words can never describe just how thankful I am for you, everyday. And though I no longer live with you and see you everyday (I beg to differ because we FaceTime after dinner every night, and during breakfast on weekends haha) I still think of you and just how much you shaped me into the lady I am today. Because of you, I am more patient, I love without hesitation, and I make everyone take their shoes off before they come into my home. Always.

I love you momma.

love,

Your baby #1

Mom,

A letter will never do you any justice. I know you’ll appreciate the words I write but until the day I can give you everything you’ve given me this simply just won’t be enough. But… its worth writing right?

Thank you. Thank you for being the one constant thing in my life that never waivers, leaves, or changes on me. Through good days and bad you never seem to give up on me or anyone of that matter. Raising two kids certainly isn’t easy but doing it alone is a super power. The strength and perseverance you obtain is unmatchable. Each day I try to emulate your strength. It isn’t easy and I have no clue how you do it but one day I’ll find out.

I am so thankful for your undying support. Life can be cruel sometimes and to know that I always have you in my corner is what gets me through the good, the bad, and the ugly. I wouldn’t be where I am today without you. Yes that is such a cliche but it’s the truth. I feel it is easy to give up sometimes, but watching and learning from you has taught me that giving up is never an option.

I think back to when I was younger just starting school and developing my love for soccer. I look back on those days as simple times. I was young and careless, creating my understanding of the world. But in those times, while I thought of them as minuscule moments, I realized you devoted your energy into helping build me into the person I am today. Now that I am older and still learning to be wiser I realize those little moments meant everything. As a college student and collegiate soccer player I wouldn’t have gotten this far without you investing your time in me all those years ago.

You showed me what it feels like to be cared for. By watching the way you treat me, my sister, friends and even strangers, I strive to be like you.

We often get stuck looking at the world as a bad place. By doing so we tend to overlook all the good it encompasses. You mom have taught me to look, believe, and be the good. With that I thank you. I could go on and on about how utterly amazing you are and believe me you are. But I will save that for your ears another time. Love you more than the moon and stars.

Your first born,

Christina

v

This assignment was one that came easy to me. While it was four stars in the writing bank I felt this was a fairly simple assignment and decided to take on the task of writing a personal letter to my mom. Ultimately what was asked in this assignment was to write a letter to your mother whether it be a sad, angry or heartfelt letter and post it.

I believe this was something that came easy to me because of the relationship my mom and I have. What I think I enjoyed about this assignment was my ability to free write. There weren’t any restrictions on what I could discuss or talk about. I feel that is when I am most successful at writing.

When writing this letter I was inspired by the bond my mom and I have had since I was little. I used that to create my letter and from there I just elaborated on how I strive to be like her in every way possible. My letter could have been pages long, but for the sake of the assignment and my viewers time I didn’t want to write something so elaborate that it turned people away from reading it.

This assignment meant a lot to me because my mom means even more. I wanted to invest myself and really create something worth reading. Ultimately I believe I told a story that goes back and depicts a bit of my childhood as well as present day. With that I also felt it was best to just write the letter out in my blog post so that it was easy for those to access. Likewise I was unsure of what other tools I would use to create this. I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I certainly intend on showing my mom this.

Take the time today and everyday to appreciate your mom!