10+ -> 9 -> 7 -> 5 -> 3 -> 1.

You remember a dream you had when you were very young.

9-You remember a dream you had a while ago.

7- You remember a dream from long ago.

5- You remember an old dream.

3- Remember that dream?

1- Dream

When you were a kid, you did not have a care in the world.

9- When you were little, you had very few problems.

7- As a kid, you had few problems.

5- You didn't have many problems.

3- You were naïve.

1- Young.

You were jealous of your older siblings because they were allowed to stay up later than you.

9- You envied that your siblings could stay up late.

7- You were jealous of your siblings' bedtime.

5- You envied your siblings' bedtime.

3- You were jealous.

1- Envy.

Essay Reflection

1- What is your essay about? (concept not plot.)

In short, this essay is about growing up. More specifically, it is growing up as the youngest of three girls - always being jealous, and now regretting it.

2- What was the most challenging aspect of writing and rewriting this essay.

Hmmmm. The most challenging aspect of writing this essay was probably getting the ideas for the concrete examples. For a while, I was stuck. I had no idea what to write about. Then, I had a brain-blast, and thought about writing about about Maternal Deprivation. It was really random, since my mom had mentioned it to me for some reason a few years ago. I had a little trouble making it long enough. I had to pry open my mind to elaborate on my ideas, which I guess was a good thing even though it was frustrating.

3- If you could go back and make changes or additions, what would you do? Why?

I would put more in my paragraph about growing up. I feel like I could have just said more about the idea, but just didn't have time to elaborate. While writing it, I couldn't think of more to say. But if I could have just thought about it for more time, I feel like I could have written much more. I could have added more ideas about what it was like to be little and jealous of my sisters. I would maybe add another paragraph about the experiment: A Class Divided. It is interesting how people pick on people based on looks, even at such a young age. I could have elaborated a lot on this subject, since there's so much to say.

4- What was most unexpected - or unexpectedly fun - about writing this essay.

I think this is the most fun essay I have ever written. Usually, I think to myself: "Oh great. An essay." And that's how I started out this time as well. However, it was so much fun to write! I always thought that that was an interesting dream, and was glad to write it down. Writing about growing up was really interesting to me. I never really realized how much I miss being a little kid. I also really enjoyed doing research. I found the study Maternal Deprivation to be intriguing. I'm interested in psychology, so to go into more depth was motivating. Researching the minuet was the most fun, however. I was looking on YouTube, and found some very interesting people dancing the minuet. I found a commercial for Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire transformed into a commercial for Twilight with a voice-over, which was hilarious.

Harry and Bear

Harry is one of my dogs. He is presumably half great dane, half black labrador retriever. We believe he's 11 years old, and quite tall, about 3ft tall. We got him when I was about five years old. We rescued him when he was just one year old. His previous owner would leave him in a warehouse for days at a time, without any food or water. We picked him up in Watsonville, and drove home. Because of his prior treatment, he had some behavior problems. He was very loving towards us, but thought he always had to protect us. When guests would come in our house, he would growl, believing that they were intruders. When we first got him, my friend Maia went to give him a huge hug, and he nipped at her hand, and growled. Now we know we always have to put him outside whenever we have company. Last year, he weighed as much as I did. He enjoys cuddling up on his bed, and taking long naps. He loves going on walks around the block. If we even mention the word "walk," he goes crazy and starts howling and "singing." One of his favorite pass-times is eating. He'll eat anything he can get, including our recycling, trash, and bees and other insects. Sometimes, my family and I think that Harry is a little confused about 

his size - meaning he believes he is a very small dog. If you're sitting on the couch, he'll jump up, and sit on your lap, practically crushing you.

Bear is my other dog. The veterinarian assumes that he is half shar-pei, half golden labrador retriever, and 12 years old. He is not trained at all. If you throw a ball, or a squeaky toy, and say "fetch," he'll look at you like you're crazy. Later, after you give up and walk away, he'll go get it, lay down on his bed, and try to the best to his abilities to tear it up. He is quite old, and almost deaf. His main activity is sleeping. That's pretty much what he does all day. He also drinks water a lot. Whenever we refill his water bowl, he gets up, and slurps loudly until it's empty. One of his goals in life is to make sure the water bowl is empty. This little fellow is obsessed with my mother. He follows her around the house constantly. If she moves into another room when he doesn't notice, he will search every room in the house until he finds her. Sometimes, my mom will purposefully run out of the room to play hide-and-seek with him. When my mom comes home from work, he's usually pouting in the backyard, laying down in the grass. A few years ago, he was diagnosed with lymphoma, a type of cancer. Being the animal lovers that we are, we decided for him to have surgery. He had a huge scar and a bald spot for a few weeks, but eventually the hair grew back. He has been going in every few weeks to get chemotherapy, and gets pills every night. So far, he's outlived any other dog with this cancer, knock on wood, and he gets through his days. I think it's partly out of love that we have for him.