The Lost One: Kathryn's Autobiography

The Lost One
autobiography of Kathryn C

* For the safety and well-being of myself, I have had to remove city names, hide identities, and take a mere few details out of the paper. It is still a master piece, and I am very proud of it. I scored an A on this paper, with a 28 out of 30. This was my entry biography piece during my freshman year, altered and edited as I have learned to punctuate and add details over the years.

I am a teenage girl: an example of life. I am extroverted. I am opinionated and I am confident in what I do. I am not perfect. I am stubborn. I am defensive. I am nervous. I am different. But I am me. I am Kathryn. And I am resilient, amazing, talented, loud, happy, a little bit complicated, and a whole lot unique. I was born on May 24^th, 1994 in a California town called “Fresno”, to mother Sharon, and father Joseph. Sharon and Joseph met when Sharon dialed the wrong number, and as fate would have it, ended up having a long conversation with an intriguing man, whom she would later meet and fall in love with. I was a planned baby: nothing out of the ordinary. Sharon was an artist. An organized woman: a decorator, and a writer. Joseph was quite opposite. He enjoyed automobile engineering, and fixing car radios. Sadly, shortly after I was born, Sharon got notification that her father who she hadn't seen in 9 years wanted to have word with her. He sent her a one-way ticket to Washington, said some hurtful, racist connotations about her "mutt Mexican baby" and convinced her into adoption. At this point, Joseph would not forgive the fact that Sharon left against his wishes. She knew she had to make a heart-breaking decision, and put me up for adoption.

Six weeks after my birth, the papers were signed, the interviews had been made, and I was given to an incredible family, consisting of couple Margaret and David, who resided in Washington. They were so joyful to have a baby of their own, and to watch every new development I made. I was a very kooky baby. I talked early on, ate pretty much anything including rocks, and never crawled. All in all, I developed into a healthy tot, who hinted at artistic talents since pre-school, creating my own plates and light switch covers, decorating most everything with pasta shells. Acting, among other things, was also something I enjoyed doing.

I began kindergarten in 1999 with a teacher I will never forget. Her name was Wendy. On the first day of school, she laid all the kindergarteners down, and sprinkled what she called “fairy dust” on our heads: promising us that our wishes would be fulfilled and we’d have a super great elementary experience. I still remember that moment with perfect clarity.

All this changed when I entered first grade that next fall. I lost my best friend that I had since pre-school when she picked a new best friend over me, and I began experiencing fear of separation from my parents. Little did I know, when I was 12 years old, I would be diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder that would make it nearly impossible for me to live life like the average kid. I went through that selfish phase, like every other kid, but there were other occurrences that stood out from the rest. I would pick one friend, and cling to them. They were my security blanket when my parents could not be there. We would exclude other people from our duo, and made other kids feel bad. When I say feel “bad”, no, I do not mean bully them. That was turned around on me for six traumatic years. Hating is not in my nature, I tend to forgive and let go easily. Though some of the kids in fifth and sixth grade have not changed since, I have to the extreme. I am done with the close-minded, immature, ignorant, and pathetic atmosphere that my elementary and middle school possessed.

When I was seven years old I was diagnosed with medium level asthma. I did not enjoy the medicated heat through tubes, so twice every day I had to do a medicated puffer. When I was ten, I had a cold, and I ate some tomato soup. Tomato soup is spicy, and it seemingly aggravated my throat – causing my airways to become blocked. I was choking for air, and the emergency medication would not work. This is what has become my little near-death experience. Since then, I have nearly recovered from my troubles with asthma. I battled it for about six years. I have overcome other health problems, including poor stomach health, breast cysts, allergies to just about anything and everything, skin conditions, A.D.D., and an intolerance to the protein in cow’s milk. I cured myself with hope and by not giving up on my faith that I would heal. Some of these were easy diagnoses, and I could easily work on curing them. Others included paranoia and anxiety of what the heck was inside of me, affecting my body in these strange ways. Each one of my health complications has made me the strong person I am today. It has taught me to not give up, even if it is horribly hard to fight. It has also taught me to see the good in life, even when it goes sour.

I left public school after sixth grade ended, with the drive to pursue online school for the following three years, including my freshman year in high school. While I was online, I developed relationships and friendships with people in cyberspace. I interacted through web camera, microphone and texting with these individuals. They were some of the most inspiring human beings I have met in my life.

Growing up, figure skating was a big part of my life. My grandmother would record tapes, and I would curl up in front of the TV contently watching their grace and talent. In June 2007, I began posting my own figure skating montages on YouTube.com, becoming one of the biggest and best known figure skating montage makers. I began publishing my poetry online in March of 2008, and received positive feedback from decent grown-up authors with publicized novels, such as Richard Lee Orey, a court room drama novelist and poet. In September of 2008, I figured I would open a blog-slash-website, to put it all together in one place. All of my talents have continued to grow, and I am very pleased with them.

My favorite figure skaters are Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov. Ekaterina, "Katia", lost Sergei at the age of 24. He died of an unexpected heart attack while practicing for an upcoming tour of Stars on Ice, one of America’s most famous ice shows including World and Olympic champions. He was 28. Even though this death did not affect me personally, it left an inspiring mark on my heart. Death, you could say, has been a semi-big part of my life.

The first death I experienced was a driver running a red light, crushing a bicycle rider onto the sidewalk. My dad noticed the accident and told me he was going to get out of the car and help the man, and told me not to look at the sidewalk. Being curious me, of course I had to. To this day I wish I had not, but I realize that sometimes seeing the bad in life makes you thankful for the good you have.

Shortly after that, I was affected by the death of peace activist Cor. Cor had visited our fourth grade classroom right before visiting Pakistan to protest against the destruction of homes. She was standing in front of a bulldozer, and it ran her over. I attended memorials, and a march in honor of her. That was the first time I pondered the meaning of life and death. I came up with the association that it was a healthy, natural thing that we all will have to endure someday. While unexplainable, it is also something we have to deal with from a witness’s point of view.

A year later, I witnessed my mother and grandmother struggle with the death of my uncle John, who committed suicide from incurable depression. Two years later, my best friend Caz died from a tragic drowning incident while white-water rafting. Three months later, my father’s mother Marge passed away of old age.

I am not positive about what I want to do with my life, but I know I want to be some sort of therapist: possibly a relationship or teen counselor. I believe that my duty here on earth is to heal and help people, as that is a natural talent and something I enjoy doing immensely. I chose my current school because I was sick of being out-casted and thought it could help me fit in better. I am mature and attend to learn--I am not some nobody who does not care about their future. I want everything for myself. Everything I can get my hands on.

I would say I have been through a lot, but not half as much as some other people. It saddens me to this day, how much I had to experience at such a young age with poor health, deaths and ongoing hatred. I used to be a lost, confused and saddened kid, living in a world of turmoil. Now I can breathe, let loose and realize that this is what life is about: learning, and improving. Holding on to the past: only as a reference to the future. I suppose my own conscience taught me to let go of things I cannot control, and some self soul-searching helped me find happiness from life. You’re never going to get anywhere if you let somebody trample all over you. I hope you can look around you and find happiness in every day, no matter what your situation happens to be. Take my advice when I say that life is over before you know it. It is the journey that truly matters, not the destination.