The Day That Changed Everything

Kori Maloy
Comp 1
Ms. Garrett
October 16, 2011
The Day That Changed Everything
I was about to turn eleven years old.   Right smack in the middle of winter.   Nothing against my parents, but I never really had a good time for my birthday.   The weather was usually harsh, and none of my family ever seemed to make it. “Previous engagements” are what they called it.   It just wasn’t a good time of the year for me, even though it should have been the best part.   For an eleven year old girl, you would think I would have been bouncing off the walls with sheer excitement.  
Despite the bad timing of birth and mishaps with family visits, winter was my favorite season of all.   Even though it wasn’t the best time of the year for me personally, I loved the cold.   I could spend hours laying out in our snow covered yard looking up at the sky.   My favorite part was closing my eyes and feeling the small droplets of snow land on my cheeks.   Sometimes I would open my mouth and wait for the tiny flurries to land on my tongue.   As soon as they hit my tongue, they melted away like cotton candy would on a hot summer day.  
With all great things, there must come something to mess it up.   My mother always told me to soak up all the good times while you can because you never know when they would be taken from you.   Like every other eleven year old girl, I never took my mom’s words seriously until I had experienced them the hard way.  
I remember everything that happened that day a little too well.   I was sitting on the sidewalk looking at how many snowmen were assembled in the yards around me.   All I heard was yelling and screaming at first. I didn’t recognize some of the words at first.   The garage door opened and my dad came storming out.   He looked at me and told me to get in the car with such cold, ferocity that held me in my spot. He yelled it the second time.   Being such a little girl, it scared me. Even when they’ve fought before, I have never seen him like this.   I heard...