Jessica Kilday

Chronology of my life:

®    February 6, 1988- I was born in Woodbridge, Virginia

®    First summer and Christmas in Massachusetts, followed by every summer and Christmas after that (where my family is originally from and where most are still living today)

®    August 1, 1989- My brother, Bobby, was born.

®    December 22, 1991- My brother, Matthew, was born.

®    I attended Dale City elementary school for grades K-3.

®    In second grade, I made my first communion.

®    The summer between third and fourth grade, my family moved from Dale City to Manassas where I attended Thurgood Marshall Elementary for grades 4 and 5.

®    I attended Parkside Middle School in sixth grade.

®    A new middle school opened closer to my house, I attended Benton Middle for grades seven and eight.

®    2001- I made my confirmation.

®    November 2001, I broke my wrist and had to wear a cast through Christmas.

®    I attended Osbourn Park High School for grades 9-12.

®    August 2003 (summer before tenth grade) – Got my permit

®    May 2004 (end of tenth grade)- Got my drivers license

®    June 2005 (summer between eleventh and twelfth grade) – Traveled to Europe (Italy and Greece) with students and teachers from my AP European history class. This is where I got very close with my group of friends through senior year and to the present.  

®    April 2006- I decided to attend the University of Mary Washington

®    June 2006- Graduation from Osbourn Park High School

®    June 2006- Stayed at a Lake house in Lake Gaston for a week with some of my friends after Graduation.

®    July 21, 2006- Went to preview at Mary wash and met my roommate for the first time.

®    August 23, 2006- Moved in to the dorm and started college.

®    May 2007- Hired to work at the freedom center over the summer. For the first half of the summer I worked in kid care and for the second half I worked in a preschool camp.

®    July 2007- Went on a short vacation with roomie to Bethany Beach Delaware.

®    August 2007- Moved in early to start Orientation Leader training and help the new freshmen arrive to campus.

®    …which brings us the present- taking history 299 (among other courses), doing my work, and waiting for Thanksgiving/Christmas break

I chose to include these events because they seemed like the most basic and important milestones in my life. I did not want to make it too long and include all the details about everything I did in high school (which is what I would be able to talk about in more detail since it is the more recent past) because then it would feel like I am writing a resume. The events in the beginning of my life are less detailed and most basic because I do not remember everything, or exactly when it happened.

I feel that chronologies are important to historical narratives because they provide a framework in which to place important events or periods in ones life. The chronology itself may tell us a lot about a person or provide insight as to why something is being written. If a chronology were being written in regards to how one chose a career, then the events that one would chose to include would be different than if it were being written to show the different places one has traveled throughout his life. If it is a private chronology, there may be more personal events or emotions included. In addition, one may be able to use a chronology to figure out why someone acted or felt the way they did at a certain time. It can be used to compare the events of one particular life in relation to the events of what is going on at that time period in general (for example it may be a time during a war or particular rights movement). Chronologies can provide a lot of insight when looking at personal narratives.

So, now that we are all fully aware that we are supposed to be posting once a week (although I don’t know if that includes the postings that are chosen on the syllabus or not), this is what I’ve got for the week.

I typed up an outline for the four minute presentation and have so far practiced it a couple of times, however it’s about six minutes long, so I have to fix that, because I don’t want to fail. I also made an appointment with the writing center and the speaking center to get both of those out of the way. For the speech though, I have explanations in the intro and conclusion, but they sandwich what I feel like is mostly a listing of secondary source after secondary source, so that I can talk about enough of them (is there a min. or max. of sources we need to discuss?), but I don’t know if that’s right.

Well anyways, I’ll work on that this week and my presentation isn’t until Friday. Good luck to everyone going tomorrow! Hopefully you all get A’s.

Jessica

The second story that I had written was in fact true. This past summer when we went on vacation my mom sliced her foot open on a rock, or shell, or a piece of glass, or something when she hit the bottom of the lake. The first story is false. I did move ten years ago but it was not from Connecticut, it was only about 15 or 20 minutes down the road. My family is however from Massachusetts, so we make the drive up the east coast on 95 very frequently and you can indeed get to Connecticut traveling on 95 in somewhere between six and seven hours because it only takes us nine to get all the way up to Massachusetts. So, thats how I based my time estimate.

But, good job everyone who guessed correctly!

My mom woke me up early in the morning on the day we moved here from Connecticut ten years ago. It was not as difficult of a move because I was still young, but I remember the seven-hour car ride with my little brothers (six and eight at the time). If we were not entertained with our music and car games then our mother would have to listen to the constant bickering and the cries of “mom, tell him to get his stuff away from me,” and “are we there yet,” for seven hours, as we were all closely confined to the seating of the station wagon. When we arrived, it was not all bad because we had moved close to one of my mom’s old college friends who also had children close to our age; we became friends fast since we really did not know anyone else. We had many people helping us move in to our new house, both my mom’s college friend and friends of hers, but it still felt like a long and exhaustive day. By the time we moved, summer was ending. It was almost time to start fourth grade in my new school where I made many new friends, some of which I am still friends with today.

The most recent family vacation took us to a house on a lake in North Carolina. We rented a house for ten so that another family, friends of ours, could join us there a few days later. The car ride was a short three hours; and when we got there, we were excited to look around the house. Unpacking and settling in took about an hour and it was getting close to dinnertime. My little brother (at the time 17) started campaigning for a swim in the lake before dinner. I was hesitant, but sure enough, we all soon headed down to the dock. We all jumped in (my brothers, my dad, and I) and my mom was last. After she finally decided to hold her nose and take the plunge, she came up screaming, “ah my foot!” We all thought she was just overreacting, until she climbed up the ladder with blood pouring out of her foot. My dad immediately reacted, “Call 911!” so we did. The ambulance arrived and bandaged up my moms foot and then my dad drove her to the hospital for stitches. They arrived back at the lake house early that morning (around 2 a.m.) very exhausted and my mom with eight stitches. Thus concluded our first day of family vacation and we all headed to bed.