Home. Home doesn’t necessarily have to be a place where one lives permanently such as your, apartment, house, or any type of building. Home is a place where you feel warm, safe, love, and comfort all in one. Home can also be a safe place. Sometimes home can also be just a simple thought or a certain emotional feeling.
I was born and raised in Fall River MA. But to be specific I was born at the Charlton Memorial Hospital. I have lived here in Fall River my whole 18yrs of life. Fall River has about 88,857 people living in the city. This place has taught me so much life lessons and facts about the city itself. Fall River is home to me. Growing up in Fall River I have made so many friends, close relationships and lots of memorable memories of events that has all happened here.
The city has so many special events that go on during certain special occasions. My personal favorite event is on the 4th of July or independence day I should say, when for many years Fall River has a huge event that always goes on down at the Battleship. I have been going to this event ever since I was around 10 or 11yrs old for as long as I remembered and have been going every year after that. This event has been in my childhood for quite awhile. They open up a carnival like event for all of the residents who live there and for everyone to enjoy the special holiday and celebrate it together. I love the feeling of knowing everyone is having a great time. As you walk down to the Battleship the first thing you see is the tall Ferris wheel that is shaped as a big huge circle which is in the center of the parking lot with many shining bright lights on it. You could already feel the excitement and a small rush go through your body. As you go further down you start to see everything else. Everything else such as all of the mini games and all of the other types of rides. My personal favorite ride was always the big huge pink slides. Those were always my favorite because that was the first time i have ever went down the slide with my father. The importance of that is because my father and I have a really tight bond and close relationship. When the clock hits around 9:30-10:00pm that’s when you hear the fireworks start. You would know when you hear a loud BOOM! and BANG! about 3 times in a row all shooting up in the sky. This event is such a home warm feeling because I know everyone is having a great time and you are surrounded by many positive people and the people you love if you are showing up with family. Having that home like warm feeling is also a happy feeling. Coming to the 4th of July carnival makes me feel so much at home because I’m comfortable and familiar with the environment around me. The event is a well known place to me.
Driving on bumpy roads swerving left to right dodging many huge potholes is when you know you are in Fall River. The streets of Fall River are mostly very curved like. The reason why the pot holes feel like and are like home to me is because I go through and dodge them every single time I leave and come back to my house. the pot holes on the street last up to about a mile an a half from and to my house. Once I seem to notice I am driving on a really long bumpy road, I know I am close to home. My actual house to be specific.
I am also pretty sure most or all of the streets have light poles and they are at least about 100ft away from one another. In certain areas the street lights come on at about sunset or depending on the season around 8 o’clock because of day light savings. More importantly though, Fall River has many one way streets. Sometimes they even come one after the other and the worst part is that at the end of a one way street you find yourself having to go all the way back around because the next one way street goes the opposite way. Yes, such a hassel is that’s what you are thinking.
Sunset Hill is the place where I have lived throughout most of my life which was for 14yrs. Sunset Hill is where I met all of the friends I have now and also where I made most of my childhood memories. From sleeping over friends or family’s house to walking to the closest corner store to playing outside at the playground almost everyday. There was also this small community day care my mom had signed me up for to go to after school. The teachers there were very nice. It was a little like school but not necessarily. When I moved from this place it felt odd at first because I have never lived anywhere else besides Sunset Hill. My sister currently lives here now and every time I walk into her house it gives me so many memories and flashbacks of back then. The rooms and downstairs where modeled the same exact way which was the crazy part. I can truly say that this is my safe place. As I come back and drive into the parking lot I can already feel the love, warmth, and comfort soothing into me.
There are many definitions and different opinions on what a “good feeling is”. A good feeling can either be something so simple as getting paid on a Friday after a long week of work or it could also be a good feeling when you see that your gas tank in your car is all the way at full. But my good feeling might be a little different than you would think. As I drive back to Fall River from a different city or state and I pass by one of those signs that say “Welcome to Massachusetts” or even better “Entering Fall River” I say to myself in my head, “yes, it feels great to be home!”
– writers use of specific details- I was hoping there would be more details throughout the story being told on why you love your hometown. Ex; the carnival when from you see the Ferris wheel and describing how tall it was and all it’s lights immediately to 9:00 p.m fireworks and the vision was never created of how much fun the carnival was as part of your childhood.
It seems the author is trying to tell a story about why she loves her hometown and all the fun memories she created there. The story lacks details through out there were any lines that resonated with me and stuck out as a major detail.
The structure of the and details seemed mixed and not very clear. their were slight mentions on memories then city facts that had no relevance to what the story was about. I wish there would have been more detail and description maybe just about one particular even or chain of events like the carnival.
The idea of portraying her child hood memories works. i think she needs to elaborate on those specific memories and not so much on Fall River itself it’s to vague of a topic it’s needs to be narrowed down a bit.
I see an attempt to pull things together here in both the intro and conclusion (“Home is a place where you feel warm, safe, love, and comfort all in one” and “As I drive back to Fall River from a different city or state and I pass by one of those signs … I say to myself in my head, ‘yes, it feels great to be home!'”
The body paragraphs, though, seem to be scattered, a list of several things you think of when you think of Fall River. The para. on roads and lights isn’t really about things that make you feel warm and safe? And it doesn’t connect to Independence Day or Sunset Hill.
Rather than list associations with Fall River, I’d encourage you to think of a particular event that sums up what home means (I can imagine doing that with a more developed description of the 4th of July celebrations maybe; the Sunset Hills para. seems quite general–there might be something that happened there that you could write about, but I think you want something more specific.