This was written in a training in response to a writing prompt. We were supposed to describe a person. I described Rebecca

September 3, 2003

Rebecca is seven years old. She has brown hair cropped straight, just past her ears, and hazel eyes that gaze seriously at you while she endlessly questions the world. She thinks she looks just like Junie B. Jones, her favorite character. She is the “second smartest” girl in her class and she will tell you the name of the first smartest, if you ask.

Rebecca loves snuggles. She especially loves to sit on her father’s tummy and watch T.V. on the soft couch in the family room. This year Rebecca has decided to be a football player. She has never actually played football to my knowledge, but she insists that she has played it with her older brother, Kyle, and his friend, Tommy. She recently e-mailed my husband, who is currently serving in Iraq, and insisted that he come home soon, because no one at our house knew when the football games were on, or on what channel. (I think she got the idea to become a football player from watching the Cosby Show this summer. The little girl on that show wants to play football as well.)

Rebecca is very outspoken with adults. As the youngest in a family of nine, she is constantly in the presence of people who are older than she, so she is not at all inhibited by them. A few weeks ago, my older brother came from Texas for a visit. We have not seen him for 5 years, so of course, Rebecca does not remember him. She sat right next to him on the couch and studied him very carefully. She asked him about his beard and his floppy ear lobes, and she sparred with him as he asked her questions and joked with him.