Before I Die
She made a list of 10 things she wanted to do before her death. Tessa, the main character of Before I Die by Jenny Downham, wasn’t your average 16 year old. She was sick, and closer to her death everyday. Every day a nurse would come to her home and check to see how she is doing and takes a blood sample. She was dying of leukemia. Leukemia is a disease where your body produces an increased number of immature of abnormal leukocytes. No one wants to die like this, or even at all, but she is stuck inside her dying body and she is unfortunately dying with it. She just wants to try and live a normal life but has also accepted the fact that she’s going to die. Everyone dies; she’s just doing it early and a different way then others. Tessa is very inspirational and I think that Tessa symbolizes strength, hope, and life.
Tessa is very strong physically and mentally, which is why I think that Tessa symbolizes strength. She goes into the doctors many times and a nurse goes to her home everyday to give daily check ups to see how her blood is and how far down the line she is coming. I don’t know about you, but constantly getting needles poked into you and surgeries is painful and you have to be strong mentally and physically to have them done. I really admire her strength and I know that I personally don’t think that I could have done what she did. She also falls in love with her neighbor, Adam. This might not seem like a form of strength to you, but I think that it is. To find someone that you love and know that you want to spend the rest of your life with that person but the rest of your life is only a limited time. That you know you are going to loose them at any given moment. But both Adam and Tessa don’t care, they are in love with each other and they don’t let her sickness interfere with that emotion.
I think that Tessa also symbolizes hope. She isn’t an angle sent down that has the cure for leukemia but, I think she’s a great roll model for those who are sick with anything whether it can be cured or not. I do think that she is some kind of angle though. One that will protect her father that quit his job to stay home with her and her little brother that she loves. She will also watch over her mother and be their angle. She tries to go on with life like she’s just a normal 16 year old and does everything she wants to do. Most people who are ill don’t do anything because they feel that they are too sick to stand up and have fun and instead they just sleep in bed and wait until they die. I don’t think that people who are sick should live like that; they should do what Tessa did and make the best out of life until it’s gone. Tessa makes the best out of her sickness and says that she could do anything she wanted and it didn’t matter because she was dying anyway. Maybe some people don’t have the same attitude that Tessa has, but if I were sick, I think I would have done what Tessa did.
Lastly, I think that Tessa also symbolizes life. You might think this is ironic because she is dying, but I think that she shows everyone how to live life before it’s over. She lives life to the fullest despite her illness. She does some things in this book you wouldn’t expect an average teenager to do, but she wants to do everything and experience everything before she can’t anymore. She shows people how to live life everday. No one wants to have cancer or even to get a minor cold and you might think that it isn’t fair that you have to get this, but life is never fair and you just have to except the fact that you are ill and go on with your life. Tessa writes down things that she wants to do and accomplishes most of them. These things involved illeagle things and things teenagers would just want to try out for fun. But her death doesn’t allow her to be with her best friend, Zoey, for her birth of a new baby. Tessa’s accepted the fact that she won’t be with Zoey physically, but here spiritually watching over her and her new baby.
In this book Before I Die, Tessa shows us how to be strong mentally and physically. She shows us how to have hope and try to continue life without feeling sorry for yourself. I also learn from here that I should life live to its fullest before it’s over. You really never know when it’s your time to go so why not just love life while you can and enjoy every moment in it? I think that Tessa symbolizes strength, hope, and life. She has shown me how to live my life and carry myself better with more strength.

Witnessing Greatness
I couldn’t believe it, another Saturday wasted because I had to go to an intense 1:00-5:00 band practice for the D.C. trip. I was starting to wonder if all these practices and rehearsals were really worth the experience. Sometimes after school I had to go to the band room for a music session. I have to admit, I didn’t want to go at first, but my mom signed me up anyway and told me that I should go because it was an experience of a lifetime. I knew that I’d probably regret not going so I went to all the practices. Our last practice was at Barbara’s Point and it stormed, but we kept marching, I think that gave us a little more confidence that we could march through the inauguration with no problem.
January 16th was here and that meant that we were departing on our big adventure to D.C. It took forever to get there and by the 3rd flight, everyone was way too excited to sleep on the flight over. We were all extremely tired, but our anxiousness got the best of us. I couldn’t believe how cold it was. The feeling was indescribable as my roommates, Mikaela, Colby, and Lindsey, and I stepped off the plane. We knew we were really here and it was such an honor to be here. We were tired from the plane ride, but we couldn’t sleep due to our excitement and some jetlag but, unfortunately, the next day we had a practice at one of the parks. Everyone bundled in four or five layers of clothes, gloves, hats, and scarves, anything to keep the warm air in. I particularly was not a fan of the below 20˚ temperature, but I knew that it wasn’t going to get any warmer like in Hawaii so I had to suck it up. While we were rehearsing our music, I couldn’t play. My lips were to frozen and my teeth were chattering uncontrollably. I didn’t know how I was going to get past the parade.
To get our minds off of the parade and the crazy temperatures, they drove us by a few monuments. It was way to cold too walking to them so we all boarded the bus instead. Everywhere we went was beautiful. We went to the capital in the morning and had a short tour and then we visited the other monuments at night because they looked so much better when they glow in the surrounding darkness. I was amazed when we went to the Arlington cemetery. So many miles of grass filled with graves of those who fought for their rights. Every grave is in line because it shows that they were discipline in the army.
Our last rehearsal was almost done. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as cold as it was previous days. There was even a slight snowfall. The practice was just like in Hawaii, only without the 80˚ weather. We went around and around the track and played all of our tunes. I felt pretty confident after the practice. After marching, we gathered together to take a group picture. Something strange happened as we sat together as a group to pose for a picture. It made me feel that we were ready and that we were going to represent Punahou well.
Finally it was January 20th, the day of the parade. It was 4:15 in the morning and I wasn’t very excited to get up this early, but it finally sunk in parade day and I thought to myself, “All the work we’ve done will finally pay off today.” Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that standing in the cold for five or six hours was part of the deal. But, to keep us warm, everyone huddled together like penguins and that helped, a little. Finally, the parade was about to begin. I couldn’t believe it, I was about to witness a great moment in history. We began to march and everything went away. All my excitement, my fears, everything, I just couldn’t wait to pass the Punahou grad that’s now our President and present ourselves well. It was truly inspiring to know that President Obama came from a small rock in the ocean. He work hard and dreamt big, and he got his “dream come true fantasy,” President of the United States. I feel like if I try as hard as he did, and dream as big as he and follow my dreams, I could accomplish anything. As we marched passed President Obama I frantically searched for him, knowing that we weren’t supposed to look around when you’re in “attention” but I had to try. I didn’t find him though and I was quite disappointed. Even though I didn’t see him, I could feel his glowing smile and excitement as we marched past the window where he stood with his family. But, I knew that it was worth the journey as we passed him playing Aloha Oe. All over the news they had stories about the Punahou band and Obama smiling and giving us the shaka. It really made me feel proud of everyone. I was so grateful that we were able to have the opportunity to experience this amazing journey. My mom was right after all; it was a great moment in history.
All that was left was to enjoy the rest of the trip. Lucky for us, we got a dinner at the ESPN zone. Everyone was extremely tired at the end of the day and just wanted to go back to the hotel and crash. This practices and trip was tiring and difficult, but overall I’m really glad I went. President Obama grew up here on these same islands and he probably didn’t think that he would end up to be President of the United States. He might have dreamt, prayed, and hope that maybe one day he would accomplish his dream. But his dream came true. He worked hard and told him self that he could be President. I hope that one day I will be whatever it is I dream to be just like Obama did. I might have doubts and worries or troubles getting past the obstacles like Obama probably did, but I will work had and try be best to accomplish my dream. This experience was extremely inspirational to me and was extremely life changing.

Comic Life