Claire Chapman
English 101
Narration Essay
September 15, 2015
The Alexa Project
June 5: What a wonderful thought that some of the best days of our lives haven’t happened yet --Unknown. Try as we might, we can never know the whole story. There will always be an unexpected variable, a chance happening that limits our knowledge of the future, and that is a good thing. In the case of the Alexa Project, this could not be more true. Something that started out as simply a way to pick up a friend who was down turned into one of the most influential experiences of my life thus far.
July 8: We must try not to sink beneath our anguish, Harry, but battle on --Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. She was a textbook case of a girl with depression hiding behind a winning smile and a bubbly disposition. And I fell for it. I met Alexa at student council camp in June of 2014, and to me and everyone else in Council J, she seemed perfectly fine. Always at the center of the laughter, she told jokes, embraced our love of her heavy Southern accent, and even went up on stage with the keynote speaker and hammed it up when he asked her to dance. I was completely blindsided when, on the very emotional last night of camp, she poured out her heart to all of us. In actuality, she was struggling just to keep her head above water.
May 12: Positive thoughts are not enough. There have to be positive feelings and positive actions --Unknown. Depression. She cleverly covered it up with relentless humor and bellyaching laughs, but behind it all she was trapped and looking for a way out of the darkness. “Troubled” would be the kindest word to describe her home life, and though she boasted a confident exterior, inside was a different story. I remember the formation of a knot in my stomach when she spoke those words through tear-stained eyes and can still feel how it settled deeper and heavier in my gut with every pained word she spoke. As a council and family, we vowed to be her rock when she was feeling down, but I could not help question whether or not we would be able to follow through when we went our separate ways back to the “real world.” Call me a pessimist, but the seven-hour drive between her town and mine seemed like a barrier too large to overcome.
September 5: You can always do more than you think you can. --John Wooden. At home, I found myself thinking of her often. How was she feeling? Was she okay? I could text or call her, and I did, but the feeling that I was not able to do enough persisted. Yet, with these plaguing thoughts came some of the most beautiful as well. Every time I came across an uplifting quote, powerful song, or goofy picture that made me smile, she came to mind. It happened all the time.
October 1: The moment you’re ready to quit is usually the moment right before the miracle happens. Don’t give up --Unknown. Then one day it just clicked; the last piece of the puzzle slid into place. I could share these moments with her. Every quote, picture, verse, song- why was I keeping all of this to myself? There were so many to choose from, and I could send one to her everyday… for a year, even! The seed took root, and I firmly resolved to take on this effort. Three hundred sixty-five days and three hundred sixty-five messages all centered around one theme: cheering up Alexa. I began to scour the internet for a year’s worth of daily sunshine. Pinterest, quote archives, blogs- you name it. Many a late night that summer, far into the morning, my eyes strained to read the bright computer screen as I collected, compiled, and made ready this labor of love. My body was tired, but my mind was wide awake. I was fueled by a purpose that can only be described as God-given. My goal was to begin before school started, and it was met; the Alexa Project was ready to commence.
April 11: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. --Philippians 4:13. The day I sent the first message, August 14th, 2014, exactly 67 days after we met, I found myself very nervous. What if she hated the idea? What if my efforts did nothing to help? I felt my palms sweat as I pressed “send” on the email draft and waited for a response. An eternity passed before she replied (I think it was maybe an hour), but when she did, I knew I had done right. She was overjoyed.
August 1: Happiness comes in many forms-in the company of good friends, in the feeling you get when you make someone else’s dream come true, or in the promise of hope renewed. --Lucas Scott, One Tree Hill. Though a fitting place to end the story, the best part has yet to be told. Throughout the next calendar year, I sent an email to Alexa every day. Usually over a bowl of cereal in the morning, copying the day’s message from the base documents on my phone to a message to her took about a minute. This minute somehow always turned out to be one of the best of the entire day because with every message sent, I felt our bond grow stronger. Being the loving and big-hearted person she is, she appreciated the messages more than I could have hoped for. We texted, talked, and shared more. She became one of my dearest friends, and together we made it through her very turbulent year. We visited some pitch-black crevices that required slow digging in order to resurface, but we did it. At some point along the way, I realized that this project was no longer just benefitting her. It had become a two-way street. I appreciated life and all that I had been blessed with in a new way and gained a magnificent friend. I may have been helping lead Alexa from the darkness, but she was helping lead me toward a new light.
August 14: The world may be broken, but hope is not crazy. --John Green. Each paragraph of this essay begins with one of the 365 messages in the Alexa Project. Originally intended only to brighten the dark shadows of Alexa’s life, my expectations for the project and its contents have been surpassed by how much it has impacted me. Though I suppose the world has a funny way of doing that: defying predicted outcomes. How blessed I feel that mine came in the form of a lifelong friend, a new outlook on life, and an altogether brighter existence.
English 101
Narration Essay
September 15, 2015
The Alexa Project
June 5: What a wonderful thought that some of the best days of our lives haven’t happened yet --Unknown. Try as we might, we can never know the whole story. There will always be an unexpected variable, a chance happening that limits our knowledge of the future, and that is a good thing. In the case of the Alexa Project, this could not be more true. Something that started out as simply a way to pick up a friend who was down turned into one of the most influential experiences of my life thus far.
July 8: We must try not to sink beneath our anguish, Harry, but battle on --Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. She was a textbook case of a girl with depression hiding behind a winning smile and a bubbly disposition. And I fell for it. I met Alexa at student council camp in June of 2014, and to me and everyone else in Council J, she seemed perfectly fine. Always at the center of the laughter, she told jokes, embraced our love of her heavy Southern accent, and even went up on stage with the keynote speaker and hammed it up when he asked her to dance. I was completely blindsided when, on the very emotional last night of camp, she poured out her heart to all of us. In actuality, she was struggling just to keep her head above water.
May 12: Positive thoughts are not enough. There have to be positive feelings and positive actions --Unknown. Depression. She cleverly covered it up with relentless humor and bellyaching laughs, but behind it all she was trapped and looking for a way out of the darkness. “Troubled” would be the kindest word to describe her home life, and though she boasted a confident exterior, inside was a different story. I remember the formation of a knot in my stomach when she spoke those words through tear-stained eyes and can still feel how it settled deeper and heavier in my gut with every pained word she spoke. As a council and family, we vowed to be her rock when she was feeling down, but I could not help question whether or not we would be able to follow through when we went our separate ways back to the “real world.” Call me a pessimist, but the seven-hour drive between her town and mine seemed like a barrier too large to overcome.
September 5: You can always do more than you think you can. --John Wooden. At home, I found myself thinking of her often. How was she feeling? Was she okay? I could text or call her, and I did, but the feeling that I was not able to do enough persisted. Yet, with these plaguing thoughts came some of the most beautiful as well. Every time I came across an uplifting quote, powerful song, or goofy picture that made me smile, she came to mind. It happened all the time.
October 1: The moment you’re ready to quit is usually the moment right before the miracle happens. Don’t give up --Unknown. Then one day it just clicked; the last piece of the puzzle slid into place. I could share these moments with her. Every quote, picture, verse, song- why was I keeping all of this to myself? There were so many to choose from, and I could send one to her everyday… for a year, even! The seed took root, and I firmly resolved to take on this effort. Three hundred sixty-five days and three hundred sixty-five messages all centered around one theme: cheering up Alexa. I began to scour the internet for a year’s worth of daily sunshine. Pinterest, quote archives, blogs- you name it. Many a late night that summer, far into the morning, my eyes strained to read the bright computer screen as I collected, compiled, and made ready this labor of love. My body was tired, but my mind was wide awake. I was fueled by a purpose that can only be described as God-given. My goal was to begin before school started, and it was met; the Alexa Project was ready to commence.
April 11: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. --Philippians 4:13. The day I sent the first message, August 14th, 2014, exactly 67 days after we met, I found myself very nervous. What if she hated the idea? What if my efforts did nothing to help? I felt my palms sweat as I pressed “send” on the email draft and waited for a response. An eternity passed before she replied (I think it was maybe an hour), but when she did, I knew I had done right. She was overjoyed.
August 1: Happiness comes in many forms-in the company of good friends, in the feeling you get when you make someone else’s dream come true, or in the promise of hope renewed. --Lucas Scott, One Tree Hill. Though a fitting place to end the story, the best part has yet to be told. Throughout the next calendar year, I sent an email to Alexa every day. Usually over a bowl of cereal in the morning, copying the day’s message from the base documents on my phone to a message to her took about a minute. This minute somehow always turned out to be one of the best of the entire day because with every message sent, I felt our bond grow stronger. Being the loving and big-hearted person she is, she appreciated the messages more than I could have hoped for. We texted, talked, and shared more. She became one of my dearest friends, and together we made it through her very turbulent year. We visited some pitch-black crevices that required slow digging in order to resurface, but we did it. At some point along the way, I realized that this project was no longer just benefitting her. It had become a two-way street. I appreciated life and all that I had been blessed with in a new way and gained a magnificent friend. I may have been helping lead Alexa from the darkness, but she was helping lead me toward a new light.
August 14: The world may be broken, but hope is not crazy. --John Green. Each paragraph of this essay begins with one of the 365 messages in the Alexa Project. Originally intended only to brighten the dark shadows of Alexa’s life, my expectations for the project and its contents have been surpassed by how much it has impacted me. Though I suppose the world has a funny way of doing that: defying predicted outcomes. How blessed I feel that mine came in the form of a lifelong friend, a new outlook on life, and an altogether brighter existence.