Young Writers & Poets
If you are interested in submitting a short story or poem, email teddy@giecom.net.
We encourage students to share their creative writings.
A Tearful Goodbye
by Joe Fanara
Thursday, July 26, 2012
At this point in our lives, many teenagers begin to think about our futures. Going to college, getting jobs, or in my case leaving for boot camp. If any of you are at all like me, who I believe you are, you fear the day that you have to say goodbye to your family and friends. It almost seems as though the days fly by and soon enough that last moment will be here where I hug my mother and shake my father's hand goodbye. The man who I’ve looked up to my entire life, the man who never showed a speck of emotion, the man who seemed untouched by his surroundings, will stare into my eyes at this moment. He will finally see his dumb, naive child as a man. And my mother, the hysterical typical emotional Italian woman that she is, will be bawling her eyes out in my arms as the emotion of letting go of her youngest child into the real world overcomes her. It will be at that moment only that both my parents will realize they raised a child who’s grown to be a man of ambition and strength. One that in times of terror or sadness could crack a chuckle out of anyone.
It's depressing to think that in less than a year and a half I will no longer live on Grand Island. While my friends are all out partying and living the college life, I’ll be serving my country. As proud as I am to say that, it also brings upon a few indescribable feelings and emotions. Just imagine for a second, not seeing your best friend for months at a time. One of whom you’ve grown to know for years. You could describe their personality better than your own. Whose home could be considered your second family. One who you could write a novel about all the memories you’ve shared. Now just take that and allow it to sink in. Picture your life without that person. One's mind cannot begin to imagine a world of the sort. It is just too unrealistic. Just to think, the summer days of just laying by the pool all day listening to the radio, without a worry in the world. Those nights where we just stay up doing whatever we wanted regardless of the consequences. Swimming in the pool at 3 a.m. because we could sleep whenever we wanted. This will be the last summer that I can enjoy the life of being a kid. We will never be as young as we are right now and with each passing day we are that much closer to it being all over. These are the thoughts that enter my mind when thinking about the end of my high school experience.
Great amounts of sorrow overcome me when my mind processes the idea of only being able to come home once every couple months for probably at most three days at a time. Most of which I will be spending with my family who I’m very close with. I will no longer have the pleasure of waking up on Sunday mornings to the smell of my mother's fresh homemade sauce made from the tomatoes we spent months canning together. I can just picture our dinner table now. The steaming baked macaroni that you know just came out of the oven as the cheese is still melting on top. Dad's salad that you could search the world but would never find a kind that tasted like his. And who can forget the fresh loaf of bread to clean up what you missed as you wolfed down the pasta. The sounds of my family and their loud voices, the dog barking, begging for food, and even the annoying telephone that rings off the hook. These are the little things in my life that actually do not go unnoticed. As of late I have been taking full advantage of every last minute I can have with my friends and family because when I leave, I do not want to take with me any sort of regret or wish that I would have spent a little more time with them all.
I am aware that over time people change. I won’t be surprised if when I come back home my friends are totally different people. When my brother came back for the first time, he actually felt as though his friends acted like immature idiots. Many of them were constantly, belligerently drunk which my brother could only take so much of. It has also dawned upon me that I will miss many events and occasions while I’m away. My brother was overseas as a part of the Naval Special Operations a few years ago. When he was gone a huge figure in our life, our grandmother, died. She played a huge role in our entire family’s lives. Everything revolved around her. My brother was not authorized to come home for the wake or funeral. The memory of that phone call I had with him the night she passed will forever be in the back of my mind. I was home alone, as my entire family was at the hospital. Anthony called and asked what was new, like usual whenever he would call home. In my mind it seemed as though it took me forever to say it, to tell him she’d died. As I told him, tears rolled down my face. The phone line went silent for what seemed like an eternity. Anger, sadness, helplessness, pain, and grief seemed to transfer across the phone line. As the information sunk from his ear, to his heart, and down to the pit of his stomach, he’d responded “huh, really?” and told me he’d call me back. It is a moment such as this in which I wouldn’t wish upon anyone or ever have to go through again. I couldn’t imagine what it did to him to know there was nothing he could do from the other side of the globe.
It will truly hit me how much my friends and family mean to me as I lay on my bunk that first night of boot camp. Alone, surrounded by other guys from all over the country who are having the exact same thoughts as I. Ideas already fill my mind of who will write me and who I will write. When I get the chance, I’ll call home. I can’t wait to hear my dad talk to me in that same tone of voice he spoke with when my brother used to call home. He spoke to him like a man. Something he’s yet to do to me. I can’t wait to see my family's faces on boot camp graduation day. My mother cried when she saw my brother on his graduation, dressed in the traditional white uniform of an American sailor. She was so proud of who her son became. I will most likely not achieve the goals my brother set. But if I can be half the man he is today, then that is a great accomplishment in itself. But for now, all I am focused on is having the best times of my life. Living my high school career up to its fullest. And most importantly, taking advantage of my time I have left with my friends because soon enough, that time will be up.
The following poem has been submitted by High School Student T.J. Acker
GO FISH
Night skies dim
And skies fade,
Love is a deck of cards,
So choose your spade.
But choose wisely because you only get one.
For the life of the once loved has begun.
With or without you he will succeed
And to find the queen of hearts,
He will indeed
Go fish...
July 19, 2012
