I once had a best friend sophomore year named Nikki. We spent every waking

moment together. But it wasn’t always that way.

The first time we hung out was on accident. I decided to go to battle of the bands

by myself. I figured I would run into someone there that I knew. And in walks this

annoying girl that sat next to me in biology. She always talked to me because we had

known each other since 3rd grade. I didn’t think that someday she would be my best

friend.

She came to battle of the bands with a girl named Heather. She went to

Northridge. There was a boy there that she liked and so she ran off to go sit with him so

that left Nikki and me alone. We talked a little but nothing major was said. Then we

started talking about Supernatural, my favorite TV show. It was her favorite too! We

started talking all about Sam and Dean and their adventures together vanquishing

demons and ghosts.

I remember chasing this one boy in a band. He was attractive and was the lead in

a band. I thought that if I really wanted him then I could get him. But nothing happened

and I didn’t even vote for his band so they lost by one vote.

My other friend had a brother there and so Nikki and I stayed with him and his

band the whole time. His band ended up winning. For a year after that Nikki and I were

best of friends. We were inseparable. Some even called us “the married couple” because

we fought like a married couple, she would feed me while I drove like a married couple,

and we spent every moment together like a married couple. No on told me anything

they didn’t want Nikki to know and no one told her anything they didn’t want me to

know because we were best friends.

I once had this best friend in the 8th grade named Tiffani. We spent every

waking moment together. But it wasn’t always that way.

We started being friends on a fluke. There was a new girl at school and I was

that girl that always befriended the new girl. We started talking and we realized we

had the same binder. We decided that from that day forward we were soul mates.

We would eat lunch together and pass notes in class. We even had a

notebook that we wrote to each other in and gave it to one another in between

classes.

There was one time that is especially memorable to me that we did together.

We had a slumber party and we stayed up the whole night. We watched movies and

ate popcorn and had an amazing time. But late that night we snuck out and went to

visit a boy that was Tiffani’s close friend. The friend and I instantly clicked. We spent

the whole night holding hands and cuddling.

The next day I was telling all my friends about this boy that I met and a

neighbor overheard and told my father. I’ll never forget that moment that my dad

told me he knew that I had snuck out and I was never allowed to see this boy again.

Tiffani and me were best of friends. I will always cherish the times we spent

together spending the night, going to the mall, piercing out belly buttons. We stayed

good friends all the way into high school and remain close today.

I once had a best friend in 6th grade named Amanda. We spent every waking

moment together. But it wasn’t always that way.

On her birthday she had a birthday party. There were fun games and party

favors and lots of treats. She even gave us a set of wind chimes that I still have today.

That night we had a sleep over.

We spent the whole night awake. We decided to pull an all-nighter. So we

stayed up watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding three times. We ate beef jerky the

whole night and I think that it was the spices in it that kept us up. We could only

make it until 4 o’ clock in the morning, but that was the latest we had ever stayed up.

Amanda and I were inseparable after that night. We stayed best friends into

Jr. High and shared a locker together. Jr. High brings all new memories.

I remember trying to jam everything into our lockers and it not all fitting

with our winter coats and boots. I remember Mr. Smith’s science class who was deaf

in one ear and Amanda and I sat on that side of the room so we would sit in class

and talk as loud as we wanted to because the teacher couldn’t hear.

I will never forget the times we spent as beat friends. Amanda moved to

Germany in the 7th grade and I haven’t seen her since. She was only supposed to be

gone three years but I guess they loved it so much they decided to stay. I will miss

her until she returns. But we will always remain best friends in my heart.

I once had a best friend junior year named Chavaun. We spent every waking

moment together. But it wasn’t always that way.

In the beginning we hated each other. I was the new girl that flirted with the

boy she liked. And she was that girl in my English class that always glared at me.

There was no way we could ever get along.

One day I decided to change that. We had an English class together and I

went over to sit by her. She wasn’t too happy with this but we started talking. We

found out that we had many of the same interests. We even sat the same way. We

were two halves of a whole.

On Valentines Day of that year we decided, as best friends, we needed to have

a single awareness party. She invited her good friend Curtis over too. The three of us

when hot tubing and sat around and talked after. We took pictures and told secrets

and the three of us decided to be best friends. From that day forward you couldn’t

see Curtis, Chavaun or me without the other two. People even thought that Curtis

was dating both of us.

But then Chavaun and Curtis started dating and that ruined everything. We

no longer spent time the three of us. It was either Chavaun and Curtis or Chavaun

and Hannah. Though things fell apart between Curtis and I, Chavaun and I remain

good friends to this day.

I once had a best friend junior year named Shelby. We spent every waking

moment together. But it wasn’t always that way.

We started off just having a class together. We had known each other from Jr.

High because we had a class together than too but we didn’t talk much. But junior

year she sat in front of me in our U.S. History class.

One day we started talking and I admitted a secret to her. It was a scary

secret and I was worried about the outcome. She told me that everything would be

okay and that we would have a random stuff day to get me to forget about it.

The day rolled around and I picked her up from her house. We went to the

D.I. It was the perfect day to go because they were closing the old store in Layton

and everything you could fit into a large garbage bag was only $5. So we bought

hideous outfits and blankets but most importantly we bought a whole bunch of glass

plates and figurines. We then drove over to an old abandoned house next to an

abandoned church and threw the plates out the window and smashed the figurines

with a hammer. Later that day we went and picked up my best friend Nikki from her

house and went to a party.

Though Shelby and I have drifted apart I will always cherish the times we

spent together. I will never forget that day and all the days and nights we spent

after. The nights at Denny’s, and days at school, the boys. My life has been shaped by

her and the influence she had on me.

Dear Hannah,

This is you in your 12th grade year of high school. I just wanted to stop by

and say hi. And tell you how your life had better have played out.

Let’s start with the near future. I hope you had fun at senior prom and

moving in with Amelia in Provo. I hope that summer was the greatest with all the

hiking and camping and boating with Jimmy. But what I really want to know is how

was Cameroon? I’m sure you were very scared to go but you tuffed it out and made

it there. Can you still speak French?

When you got back from Cameroon how was life? I just want to know if you

did become the English teacher I always wanted to become. Is moving around scary

or exciting? I’m not meant to stay in Utah. Right now I’m thinking of moving to

Washington. Is that where you ended up?

How’s life as a wife and mother. What did you name your children? I’ve

always liked the name Milo or Huston. Milo from The Phantom Tollbooth and

Huston because that was the first word spoken on the moon.

I really hope things worked out the best with marriage and stuff. Right now it

looks a little hopeless but someday I’ll find someone, right? Is he nice? Is he tall?

Does he play sports or writes or dreams? Is he into politics or music? I hope he’s

exactly what we both always wanted.

Sincerely,

Hannah Whatcott

My family has many traditions, but my all time favorite is the family Christmas party

we have every year.

My family is a large one and so we don’t always get to see each other. So

every year around Christmas time we get together, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandma,

and grandpa. We always have a gift exchange.

The gift exchange is always fun. We sometimes do it with that story of Mr.

and Mrs. Write and what they left, where you move left and right whenever you hear

the word left or right. Or sometimes we do it by going from oldest to youngest and

you can steal the gift that someone else has opened. This way is my favorite and it

gets everyone moving and laughing.

We also always have a buffet of food. It’s always so yummy with the dips and

chips and salsa and sandwiches. My favorite is my aunt’s seven-layer dip. I

remember one year we had a whip topping fight with the kids. My cousin Sam got a

hold of the whip topping spray can and attacked my sister Amelia. That got her to

steal the other can and it went from there. Everyone was covered and sticky and

was trying to steal the cans from each other.

We always laugh and have a good time at these family parties and I love

seeing them and spending time with them.

My name is Hannah Whatcott. I was born on February 24, 1992. Only 17 years later I

had my most memorable birthday ever. It was probably the best birthday I’ve ever

had. Almost every birthday that I’ve ever had, my friends have said that they would

do something amazing for me but always flaked out. Even my 16th birthday I just

asked my friends to come over to my house to hot tub. That’s all and even then they

backed out last second. So on my 17th birthday I wasn’t expecting much. The let

down started rolling with my best friend, Chavaun, had a funeral that day and wasn’t

at school. Luckily my other best friend, Curtis, was at school. I had gotten a camera

as a present that morning so I took a million pictures. After school I went to Curtis’s

house with him when I got a text message. It was a text from my ex-boyfriend saying

he was on his way to my house to bring me my present. At the time he was my ex-

boyfriend so I wasn’t quite sure why he was bringing me a present. I told him I was

at my “bf’s” house, meaning my best friend but it also could be interpreted as my

boy friend. So Curtis and I drove to my house to find Nic, my ex, already there. I

turned to Curtis and asked him to pretend to be my boy friend for only 10 minutes.

So he agreed and held my hand and wrapped his arms around my waist as we

walked up the driveway to Nic’s car. He didn’t even bother to get out of his car. He

handed me my present through the window of his car. I gave him a hug trying to be

friendly and he drove off. He gave me a gold fish and a card that said “I thought of

getting her diamonds, I thought of getting her jewels but I thought I’d get her

something better.” No, he should have gotten me diamonds. After he left Curtis and I

spent a good 10 minutes trying to find a dictionary to name my new pet. We also

spent time in my junk room looking though my old stuff. My third best friend,

Shelby, came over after a little while. Later that evening Chavaun ditched her dad,

who lives in Vegas and was only over for the funeral, for my make shift party. She

also got me a Hannah Montana teddy bear that sings “the best of both worlds” when

you squeeze its foot. In addition she got me a birthday cake that said “Happy

Birthday Hannah” on it and Shelby and I demolished this cake with our hands. I took

everyone home and Curtis gave me a kiss good night. I’ll never forget that day.

In 1992

Bush is 1st U.S. President to address Australian Parliament

"On Borrowed Time" closes at Circle in Sq Theater New York City after

99 performances

AT&T releases video-telephone ($1,499)

Tom Seaver and Rollie Fingers elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame

George Bush gets ill and vomits on Japanese prime minister's lap

NFL Pro Bowl: NFC beats AFC 21-15

"I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred peaks at #1

16th Winter Olympic games opens in Albertville, France

Ann Transon runs female world record 50k (3:35:31)

Jay Leno's final appearance as permanent guest host of Tonight

Weird Al Yankovic begins his Off The Deep End tour

LA Riots

Peace in El Salvador

Microsoft introduces Windows 3.1

War begins in former Yugoslavia

Hurricane Andrew hits Florida

Johnny Carson leaves the Tonight Show

Brazil president resigns

Mall Of America Opens

US/UN Humanitarian Invasion of Somalia

Passage of the 27th Amendment

HannaI like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.

-AGATHA CHRISTIE

Children, ye have not lived, to you it seems Life is a lovely stalactite of dreams, Or carnival of careless joys that leap About your hearts like billows on the deep In flames of amber and of amethyst.

Children, ye have not lived, ye but exist Till some resistless hour shall rise and move Your hearts to wake and hunger after love, And thirst with passionate longing for the things That burn your brows with blood-red sufferings.

Till ye have battled with great grief and fears, And borne the conflict of dream-shattering years, Wounded with fierce desire and worn with strife, Children, ye have not lived: for this is life.

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.

-ALBERT SCHWEITZER

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

-MARK TWAIN