Herr

= Rachel Herr = The Old Photo Driving down the road, with friends pushing from behind, the green car drove along with a silent horn. Imaginary games were our favorite past times as little kids.(sentence fragments? too choppy?) I was up in my parent’s attic looking at pictures as I sorted through the boxes to help with their downsizing to another house. My parents were getting up in years and it was time for them to move. Packing is always a hard task, but seeing those photos made me remember the days of my childhood; when life was carefree and just a game. Going through my things, I found one picture that caught my eye. It was of my childhood friends and me playing in our favorite soap box car. There was Jamie, Katelyn, Sarah, Liam, and Zachary. All the kids I grew up with. After high school we all went our separate ways. I cannot remember the last time I talked to them, (it must be at least thirty years), but I can recall the day that the picture was taken. (can combine sentences) The wind was blowing; all I could see in front of me was the winding road to Mr. Lapp’s farm. It was all dirt and went on for at least three miles. There was country surrounding it, no city sounds could be heard. This was our normal playground; there we could be anyone we wanted to be. That day though, we were soap box racers with a mission, first place. Zachary saw a poster for a soap box car race earlier in the week hanging in town, and we were planning to win. When Zachary found the sign he rushed to tell us and we set out our strategy. We were going to give the car a new coat of paint and do (have?) lots practice runs everyday until the race. Finally it was the day of the race. Our last test run was about to start as my mom snapped the picture; but the story only begins there. After testing the car one last time we were off to the race in the city where there were big, long, hilly roads. I have never seen so many devoted soap box racer fans cheering. It amazed me how many people where there. I ran up to the sign-in desk where an old, wrinkly, grouchy woman sat and looked down at me. “Put your name there”, she barked as I quickly scribbled down our team’s name and rushed back to the group. As I walked back I started to focus on trying to win first place. We were newcomers, so it was going to be hard to beat the pros. The professionals had really shiny expensive cars compared to ours that probably could go a lot faster. I arrived at our tent just in time to put on my helmet and help push the car to the starting line. Sarah helped me climb in and Liam gave me a big push as the starter gun went off. I was off, there was nothing stopping me. I could hear my friends cheering “Go Teddy, go.” Soon I was at my first turn, and it was tricky. I took it slow and turned the steering wheel with caution but it moved me from third place to fifth. I had my work cut out for me if I wanted to win. I took my foot off the brake and passed three of the drivers on the straight to move to second place. The biggest turn was coming up and if I wanted to win I was going to have to pass the other driver. We both came out of the turn neck and neck. I pulled ahead just as I crossed the finish line. My friends came running up to me as I climbed out of the car. I shook hands with the other driver and we all ran up to receive our award. Our trophy was so big; that it took all of us to hold it. My heart was pounding so hard inside of my chest that I could hardly breathe because I could not that believe (i could not believe that) we won. All of the time we spent practicing together really paid off. As I move more boxes I find various items that remind me of that day. I found the trophy that I thought I lost years ago. There were no worries then to stop me from thinking anything was possible. I could be whatever I wanted to be. Flipping through the pictures of years so long ago, brings the memories tucked away back to life.