Vignettes By:Maya Morgan

My Name

My name isn’t unique but, it’s not common either, some people have the same name as me, but not a lot. It’s a short name with two vowels and two consonants. I have a boring name and no one knows how to pronounce it right. I don’t correct people anymore if they don’t pronounce it right because I’m so tired of telling them that it’s wrong. There are some people who say my name is beautiful, but when they say my name is unusual, my name sounds like a parrot squawking. Sometimes, people sitting around me will correct the teacher for me and they will tell them how it’s supposed to be pronounced. My name means “the supernatural power wielded by gods and demons to produce illusions” (google.com). The meaning of my name makes it sound like I’m powerful and strong, but in reality I’m shy. My sister and brother have unique first names. They weren’t named after anyone in my family and neither was I. But all of our middle names are family names. I was named after a famous writer who was very inspirational to other people. Her name was Maya Angelou.

My middle name is a whole different story because my middle name is very common and people know how to pronounce it. It is long and I know too many people with the same middle name. I got my middle name from my great grandmother who came from Ireland and she ate a potato every day saying that it’s the healthiest thing you could do. I guess people can say that it was because she lived to be 98 years old. I wish I had a unique middle name because nobody calls you by your middle name, nobody pays attention to your middle name, nobody meets a middle name. Everyone asks what your first name is because that’s who you are known as. Your first name is what makes you different or the same as everyone else in the world. People should never let go of their names.

Mother and Father

Parents are the most important thing in the world; they are your role models and they are the people that will love you no matter what. My mother and father are complete opposites, my father is into engineering and my mother is a fundraiser. My father is very passionate about what he loves and won’t give people second chances, but my mother on the other hand is nice to everyone and makes a lot of jokes. They couldn’t be anymore different, but they’re both very smart. My parents are divorced and I believe that it is a good thing because my life would have been awful if they were still together. I mean sure, when I first found out that they were getting divorced I was sad, but now I know it’s good. My family is very loving and very caring and I wouldn’t be able to do anything without them. In the book, “The House on Mango Street”, Esperanza leads a crazy life and it talks about how her mother was very smart, but she couldn’t go anywhere and do big things with her life because she didn’t have the “right” clothes and she didn’t dress “properly”. The world stereotypes women for what they’re supposed to look like. Since there are so many magazines and movies that depict women as beautiful skinny people, many women think that the have to look like that, in order to be pretty. Esperanza’s mom threw her life away because she didn’t look like a “regular” woman.

Esperanza has a few close relationships with her family and friends, but she is considered different because she wants to move away from Mango Street and into the real world, where she can do something great with her life. My family doesn’t have very tight relationships with each other either, like the relationships you see in the movies, but that doesn’t matter because we support each other and we love each other. I don’t want a family that is “normal” because most of the time the families that are “normal”, just put on a play for the world to see. Usually they have a broken family and a broken home. I like my family just the way it is, even if my parents are not married and even if they marry other people. My family is like the waves coming to shore; sometimes crashing and pushing the sand away with all it’s might, and sometimes it comes smoothly in, kind of like it’s gliding through life. It’s perfectly ok to have a different family because families are still going to love and support you no matter what. It means that you are strong if your family isn’t perfect because, if you have been through hard times, you know how to deal with difficult situations and you know how to react. Other than supportiveness, memories are another important thing in a family, and my parents are there to make sure that there are good memories to overpower the bad ones. There will always be bad memories because nobody has a perfect life, but at least people have someone in their life, whether it’s a friend, grandparent, or parent, they will still make good memories.

Embarrassing Story

We drove up to the best place ever. It was a coffee shop which had the best donuts ever. I don’t know the name of it, but I knew it when I saw it. We got out of the car and as I walked into the coffee shop, I instantly smelt the smell of heaven. It smelt sooo good, I didn’t think I could wait any longer to have a donut. We waited in line and I felt like we were moving as slow as a turtle. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the delicious donut. As we got closer to the front, I could see all the options. “Oh my god, there are so many to choose from!”, I had to pick quickly, we were getting closer. I spotted the one. It had a rich white frosting on top with oreos sprinkled on the frosting. I picked a new donut every time I went. I never went often because I usually had other things to do.

We finally were in front of the cashier and my mom ordered her coffee first and then looked down at me, silently telling me that it was my turn to order. I said my order proudly and waited until they handed the best thing I thought I would ever taste. My mom handed me her coffee and told me to go find a table to sit at. I was so excited that I turned around quick as a fox. I wasn’t thinking at that moment because I was overwhelmed with joy, but there was someone directly behind me and I ran right into them. BAM!! The coffee in my hand spilled all over the lady and the donut slammed into the lady’s shirt. I stepped back, my mouth wide open, and looked at what I had done.

The lady looked like she had peed herself and the oreo’s were smeared all over her shirt. My mom turned around and started to apologize to the lady for what I had done. I could feel my face turning red and I started to back up a little. The woman wasn’t screaming, but she was wincing from the hot coffee. I have no idea why but I started to cry, maybe it was because I hurt the woman, maybe because I lost my donut, or maybe because I felt so bad that I got the woman all messy and she had to leave. My mom told me that everything was okay and calmed me down. I said sorry to the lady and she left the coffee shop. I was so embarrassed, I just wanted to leave and never come back. Everyone was looking at me and I wasn’t sure what to do, but my mom knew exactly what to do. She turned around, ordered the same thing, and we left. Thank god my mom was there, or else I wouldn’t have known what to do.

Credits:

Created with images by Arbron - "Stained up Close" • ManEatManila - "Maya_Sign" • diego_torres - "heart rhinestones sand" • bigiain - "Fourbarrel Coffee"

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