Personal Narrative: Cathy Bowers Petraglia

One of the most prominent things that I have realized from my first month of college is the importance of all the small things. Details have been essential for everything and everyone I have come into contact with, ranging all the way from what assignments I have due, to the hours of the dining halls. These first weeks in my freshman writing class we have held discussions on the most random—and what I believed to be at the time—irrelevant subjects. These discussions were just the opposite. After every class, I would leave intrigued. The things I took for granted, I began to question and look into the details on how they worked and why they were relevant. Perhaps details have been substantial throughout my whole life and I have not realized …show more content…
Cathy Bowers Petraglia. She is 43 years old, 5 feet 2 inches, with curly, and very frizzy brown hair. Growing up, she lived in a massive house on Murrells Inlet in South Carolina where her family owned a boat and had a pool. She lived with her dad, Eddie, mother, Jeannie, and younger sister, Caroline. People around town knew my mother as “Chatty Cathy” and “Mouth of the South,” which is spot on when describing her excitable personality. She never runs out of things to say, can talk for hours on end, and never lets anything go. Being the sweetest person with the best intentions, and somewhat oblivious, she never takes anything in a negative manner. My family compares her to Buddy the Elf from the movie Elf, and the character Dory from the movie Finding Nemo. Her love for coffee may be the explanation for her overly happy manner. Aside from her personality, some of her many talents include: playing tennis, singing, playing the piano, and cooking. All throughout high school she performed in country singing shows, one specifically titled, “High Stepping Country.” The first time she let her parents come and watch her, she sang the song “Crazy” by Willie Nelson, and they fell in love with her voice. They sent her to Salem University, a small, all girls liberal art college, where she majored in music and minored in English. Although she loved music, following her graduation, she wanted to do something different. Looking for a change in her lifestyle, my mom …show more content…
She is 15 years of age, and even though we tend to fight a lot, we are best friends. She is a giant compared to my mom and me, towering over us at 5 feet 5 inches tall with a shoe size of 9 ½. My sister has dark strawberry blonde hair, pale skin, freckles over her whole body, and brown eyes. As for her personality, she is very witty and sarcastic. Maddie is so smart that she disagrees with and challenges everything. Her report card has never seen anything lower than an A, which is impressive, even though she is just a sophomore in high school. Furthermore, she is a very talented dancer. Maddie danced at the same studio since she was five years old, where she preformed ballet, modern, and jazz styles. Just a month ago, she stepped out of her comfort zone and joined the high school dance team where she now does hip-hop. This was a very big step for her, as she is not one to go for change. My parents put her in a lot of different schools when she was younger for various advanced academic programs, and in the first week at each new school she would throw up from being so nervous. This was the same situation when she went to summer camps. This anxiety during her transformation into an adolescent was so bad that it turned into a form of obsessive compulsive disorder. Her conscious was controlled by guilt over the smallest things. It was terrible and she felt the need to tell my parents everything or she would get