Summer Thrills
I've always been a daring person. I like to take chances and try new and
different things. It makes me feel more alive when I do these types of things. It's
a way for me to enjoy my life. It's exciting and fun, too. I believe if you don't
take any chances; your life will be very dull and boring. When you take chances,
you always risk something whether it's your life, money, friends and family.
But there is always something to gain. It's like gambling. I think that is
why it's exciting.
I realized this when I was twelve years old, during the summer of '93, about
nine years ago. I went to Andros Karperos Middle School and had friends from
school that I hung out with regularly. Steve was my age. He was a short and
stocky fellow with red hair. Steve was the smartest one of my friends.
He had
always helped me with my homework. Sam was also twelve. He had long brown
hair. Sam was as skinny as a toothpick and was one of the tallest kids in school.
Then there were the twins Billy and Joe. I called him Crazy Joe because he would
always try to out do everybody. He showed me the ropes and introduced me to
extreme sports, like motorcycle riding, snowboarding, and skiing. The twins lived
three houses down from me. Joe was fourteen, Billy twelve. We all liked to fish,
swim, play football and basketball. We always did everything as a group.
That summer, we all went swimming in my pool at least twenty-five times.
Every afternoon, we would play a game of basketball or football then go
swimming afterwards at my house. I had an Olympic size pool with a springy
diving board and a ten-foot...