Ch. 8 - 12

Sixth grade...the beginnings of the "awkward" stage. I hit puberty (tmi?), got pimples, and became insecure around the boys. Ahh...I'm glad I don't have to re-live that. :) This is my first year in the middle school, no more elementary. Sometimes I walked to school, other times I would walk the 15 minutes to get there. I didn't mind the walk itself, but there was one thing I had to watch out for.....CATS.
Let me back up. Melissa and Josh had a paper route in the mornings and I sometimes helped them. While on this paper route there was a cat with only three legs (getting chills) that chased me and rubbed itself up against my snow boots. It scared me to death! For the next 10 years I had severe feline phobia (yes, that is a real term). I couldn't be near a cat without freaking out beyond reason. My fear kind of simmered once I started dating Lukas, whose family has cats. If I wanted to see Lukas on the weekends from school, I had to get used to the cats. I'm still not a huge fan but I can handle being around the sneaky things (except if it's all white, all black, or all gray, and/or if it has red eyes.) I hope I can sleep tonight.
Moving on. Our next door neighbor, Mr. Granata, had a basketball hoop and cement pad in his backyard that he allowed us to use whenever we wished. So after supper, my family would head out there to play a game or two of basketball. It was so fun! We played 4 on 3 or sometimes a game of HORSE. Good times.

In Seventh grade I was still in the Middle School and I was a big kid now because I switched teachers for every class. Such independence, I thought. I used my study halls to write notes to my friends and was always up to date on which boy liked which girl. My Ohio History teacher was awesome and he really cared about his students. He gave me an index card, which I kept for years, that said "Boys are like taxi cabs...you can always catch another."

At church on Wednesday nights I went to Kidzz Klub. My parents would pick up a van full of kids. My friends Renee and Tiffany would come with me every week. It was fun! I hope my kids can go to a big, active wednesday night club at church. I sing songs that I learned in Kidzz Klub to my kids now ("Who is the King of the Jungle? Ooo Ooo!")

During the summers I went to church camp. I love my memories of Scioto Hills! It was such a blessing and I made friends that I'm still in contact with through facebook. My first year of camp, 4th grade, I puked a ridiculous amount of times because I was homesick. Duh. And then when I came home and gave the church a report of how my week went, I hid no details and gave them the exact number of times I up-chucked. I was sure they wanted to know that. I went to camp 9 years. I learned lessons I still look back on (the book of James), sing songs that I learned there ("From the rising of the sun..."), and have really fun memories of laughing with friends, making cool crafts, going on hikes and to chapel. It was awesome. For a few years we went to family camp too.

Eight grade. I switched school buildings and went to the Junior High. I would get lost in that old building and sometimes not be able to remember how to get to my English class. My friends and I loved going to the football games on Friday nights. Not to watch football because we couldn't have cared less, but to hang out with each other! Usually we would go to each others houses either before or after the game and just talk about or do silly junior high girl things. It was fun.

1996 was the year that our church got a different Pastor, Gary Halstead. I became very good friends with his daughter, Sharon, and still to this day consider her to be in that "forever friend" category where it doesn't matter if you never talk again in this lifetime, the bond you had at one time ties you together forever.

Among my family I was considered the "white tornado". I'm not sure who coined that name, but it meant that I was a good, fast cleaner. Some of my siblings paid me to clean their rooms. And I loved it! My parents had a really cool reward system for chores. They gave each of us a baby food jar to fill with beans. Each of our chores had a pre-determined number of beans that we earned when the chore was complete. Once the baby food jar was full (I don't know how long it took to fill it, but it seemed like forever!), we got a big reward. Also at one point, my parents would come around and "grade" our room. They gave us a pink slip that said how well we did. I totally got into it and cleaned my room from top to bottom. Sometimes I couldn't sleep at night if my room was messy so I'd have to get up and clean it before I could sleep. That OCD has gone away, unfortunately. :) Props to Mom and Dad for the creativity in getting their 5 kids to keep their chores done!


Ninth grade. High school! I played soccer (just as I had done since 6th grade) on the school's team. I went to a decent sized school, 1200 kids, but it still didn't have a girls soccer team. So I, along with a few other girls, played on the boys team. JV, of course. It was a good time. I got to know a lot of people I wouldn't otherwise have met and one of the coolest things was I got to be on Josh's team! He was on Varsity, but still. I liked going to practice with him. On the field I took advantage of being a girl and did a lot of things a guy would have never gotten away with - pulling on shirts, elbowing, etc. It was fun :)

I had one of the funniest classes ever in 9th grade. My English class was just ridiculous. My teacher was out of this world, just totally didn't know what was going on. Looking back, we were obviously immature, but at the time the stunts we pulled were hilarious. The class took place in another building because of space issues so we didn't hear the bells that signaled it was time to switch classes. One day, my friend and I decided it would be a good idea to switch the clock so we could get out early. While the teacher stepped out of the room, Crystal gave me a boost to reach the clock. Just then Mrs. B came back into the room to catch me in Crystal's arms, holding the clock. Whoops! That class also started counting the ceiling tiles at the same time outloud. Now I obviously realize that was mean! I have family that are teachers and I hope they never have a class like that one!

I got contacts this year too. I could never put the darn things in by myself. So I would bring them to school with me and in first period, French, either Jessica or Corin would put them in for me. Duh! My best friends through high school were Corin, Brittany, Jessica, Maria, Kelsey, and Brad. All very special people to me.

Josh was a senior this year - so cool. Bragging rights for me, that's what that was. Melissa was a junior. All 3 of us were in the same school. The most that was together since elementary. That was a fun year because all of Josh and Melissa's friends (they overlapped) would come over and hang out almost everyday after school. Our street was lined with cars. Laura and Ryan were in 7th grade - the big kids at the middle school. Mom was still working at the Speed Shop (I still have their phone number memorized) and Dad was still at the factory. I don't know exactly what years my Dad worked nights, but there was a time when he did. I remember having to be quiet during the day in the summers because he was sleeping. Eventually my dad switched from working as a mechanic to working in sales at the same company. That was probably about the time when he stopped fishing too. He enjoyed fishing and there were always B.A.S.S. magazines sitting around.

Tenth grade. The summer before tenth grade I went to church camp. I had already trusted the Lord as my personal Savior, but at camp that year I re-dedicated my life to God. I told him that I would serve him in anyway he saw fit, even if that meant full-time ministry. As I was sitting on the back steps of my cabin with my counselor, I was really convicted that I needed to make him the center of my life. It was a great summer. Following that summer began the hardest couple of years of my life. I was rebellious in every way possible and was just really a difficult child. And I want to stress the word CHILD because I was foolish and made childish decisions. Thankfully, I have loving parents, loving siblings, and loving friends who prayed for me and worked hard to bring me back to the right path. I can say first hand, thank God for his forgiveness and grace.

I turned sweet 16 this year and as tradition in my family, I was thrown a party for the occasion. When the Neisler side got together with my mom's side of the family, along with church friends, it was a big event. I got my license and my first job soon after my birthday. My first job was Burger King. I was adament that I had to have decent black shoes if I was going to have to wear that ridiculous visor. Honestly though it wasn't that bad of a job. I worked with two African-American girls from the local college that were hysterical.

This was Josh's first year of college. SAD, SAD, SAD. My whole family missed him! The whole 8 hour drive out to his college we cried while listening to John Denver. Him leaving for college started a change in our family. This was before cell phones were too popular so if we wanted to talk to him, it was long distance. We had to use calling cards or dial 10-10-2-20 before his phone number (remember that?). Josh and I were always cracking each other up so I definitely missed him. Melissa was dating Aaron, her now husband, while he was at college an hour away and she was in her senior year. He came home on the weekends and they would talk on the phone during the week. The twins were in 8th grade and started having their own social lives. As much sibling rivalry as there was, there was just as much love and closeness.

Mommy's Piggy Tales Life Story Project.