Money and Me
Zikmund, Tobias
Grade:
11
School:
Park River Area High School, Park River ND
Educator: Kierstin Hurtt
AWARD:
Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir
Looking back, I think that her old
mantra finally struck home that time. ¨We are not made of money.” The amount of
oxygen wasted on that phrase in our house was a bottomless abyss. But this time
it worked. It made me think.
As is big family tradition, the amount of hand-me-downs in my childhood was
plentiful. An older brother and a mother with a burning passion for rummage
sales contributed to the collection. The big blue boxes holding those
secondhand treasures were only occasionally brought out. They would be emptied
layer by layer and their contents perused. I was then made to try on all the
clothes. I would duck around the corner into my bedroom to slip on the clothes
before being scrutinized by my mother’s critical eye.
