Personal Narrative: Growing Up In Lindstrom

Our whole lives we are influenced by those around us which helps develop who we are based on our actions. The question was always “What do I want to be when I grow up”, but now it is “What am I going to do now”. When did the questions transform? When did we ‘grow up’? When did everything become so serious, in a state of ‘crunch time’ to plan out the rest of our lives? Sure the years have flown by so far, but I am only 15! These years are the beginning of the rest of my life, today I have never been older than I am now, and I will never be as young as I was yesterday ever again. That sounds scary, but truly it is exciting! Tomorrow is open to an immense amount of possibilities, it just all depends on what you make of it. Growing up in Lindstrom,

It is not that we are all gossipers, it’s just that we like to talk, and talking can be dangerous considering how small of a town Lindstrom is. I never thought there was anything here for me in Lindstrom, I remember talking to all of my friends about how we hate Minnesota, how boring Minnesota is, and asking ourselves why our parents did not bring us up in a more climate predictable state, or a ‘cooler’ state. Cooler meaning more interesting not colder, trust me we have our own definition of cold! Anyways I always wanted to grow up as quickly as I possibly could so I could get the heck out of here, but in the past year my views have changed. I think the most dramatic events were those leading up to my brothers graduation. The first event was in the bleachers of a Bemidji schools’ football stadium I started realizing this would be the last football game Ben would ever play. Now that does not sound so awful, but considering I have been at every game of his since I was five years old wondering what the weird looking flags

Watching Ben, my older brother in his cap and gown walking diploma in hand also had a huge impact on me. Honestly I was very emotional that day I didn’t know if I was more jealous, or excited for him at the time. This really showed me how fast he grew up, and how fast I am growing up, then realizing it will be me walking diploma in hand with thirteen years of education under my belt questioning what I actually learned. The night he graduated both of my brothers, some friends, and I went out driving with nothing to do, and nowhere to be a very common activity in Lindstrom, Minnesota. That’s when I realized we were ‘free’, well at least the graduates were, and at which time did not include me considering I would get the pleasure of waking up ‘crusty eyed’ and zombified in the morning only to go back to what society calls ‘school’ even though most of us have another name for it, and be educated for yet another seven hours on repeat. Sure I was jealous my older sibling did not have to go to school the next morning, but I understood it was his time, these were his ‘stomping grounds’ until the next senior class took it over. Sitting at school that morning however