The Adoption
This post is a bit out of order from the last one, as it occurred a year earlier. When I was 12 years old, after we finished school for the year, Gran came to us one morning with shining eyes and a big smile on her face. We were mystified as to what could possibly have put her in such a good mood, and I decided that she must have become a grandmother again. I wondered which one of her kids had

The convent
When my sister was 13, she decided she wanted to be a nun. This was after years and years of diligent brainwashing by Gran, that she had a vocation to do so. Many months of retreats and sleepovers at the local convent "The Daughters of St. Paul" convinced my sister that this was the correct path for her in life. I didn't understand it. Yes, it was nice going on retreats with her; it was quiet,

New School Shoes
The year I was going into fourth grade, I started to feel very grown up. I would be ten that school year, and even though it would be more toward the end of the school year I still felt that entering my tenth year of life would be special for me somehow. I'd convinced myself that Gran might allow me to get my ears pierced. I wanted that so badly. All the other girls in the class had their ears