Feature Story Rough Draft

Ever wonder what it must be like to grow up on a farm? Well for Emily Blackwood she never wondered, she knew. Emily grew up in Northern Illinois in a little town right outside of Chicago called Shabbona.

 Life for Emily in her early years was peaceful and nature filled, until she reached a certain age. When she turned 6 things started to change, she started having to do chores and school got a little more serious. "I remember not having to do as much as my older siblings because I was younger, but I do remember having to do small things like feeding our dog and my rabbits. Now I didn't have to do them by myself, it was usually me or my older siblings along with our mom."

When she started Middle school it was still part of her Elementary School called Lee Elementary, the Middle School kids didn’t get their own school because the small town couldn't afford to build one. So the town only had two schools, Shabbona and Lee. "I had 26 students in my graduating class in high school, very few of them I still talk to, I think this was just because when you grow up in a small town you want the other things the world has to offer and you go after them, and that's what they did."

When she started Middle school she started having to help out a lot more around the farm which made it a little harder for her to do her school work. But she still worked hard and was determined to keep her grades up, she always got A's and B's and never failed a class ever. "I think I kept my grades up because I had big plans for my future and I knew that colleges would want people who make good grades." 

On her farm she had many animals including horses, pigs, chickens, and cows. Emily always helped feed and take care of them because she loved her animals, even if it meant she never got payed. The Blackwoods had corn fields where some of their income came from, they also had a little garden where they could sell or eat the crops they grew. "I never got payed for any of the chores I did, and sometimes it would be frustrating because other kids I knew and went to school with did. It wasn't that I didn't deserve it, It was just that my family didn't have the money."

In High school she got her first job working on Strawberry farms, but it wasn't just during the spring it was year round. On top of that job she had her house and farm chores, along with her homework. It was a lot on her plate but she knew she could handle it, in fact she loved her job. "It was so peaceful working out there, during the spring when the berries where in season we were extremely busy but we were happy to work in such a wonderful place."

"During the summer we would close the farm and pick all of the left over berries and make jams, jellies, shortcakes, and preserves. It was a lot of fun getting to make those desserts and getting to please people with them when we sold them in the fall. During the winter we worked in the snow to keep the plants warm so that they wouldn't die, it was a lot of cold work, but it was better then being stuck inside because the snow was so thick."

Cell phones and getting your own car were either not invented or rarely seen in such a small town, mainly because money was pretty tight for everyone. "I never got my own phone growing up, we all used one phone and that was our house phone. My parents used it every now and then and we were rarely allowed to use it, mainly because they were afraid we'd brake it. Only my older sister Teresa who was 15 years older got to use it which I always thought wasn't fair because as a little girl who wants the phone spending hours talking on the phones with friends or boys was stupid and made no sense."

"As for a car well when I turned 16 and got my license on my birthday I didn't get a new car, I got to drive my parents cars. But with my mom working in a nursing home and my dad being a truck driver which meant they had to drive to work, that rarely happened. So most of the time I had to get rides to dance and softball practices, which was a little embarrassing considering I had my license."

Emily's parents never went to college and both grew up in a small town, they met in High school and were high school sweet hearts all 4 years. Fresh out of high school they got married and started a family, so when Emily's older sister was the first person in their family to ever go to college it was a big deal. " I remember my sister being so happy and so excited to get to become a nurse, the day she got the letter she called us and told us how she would be getting to become a nurse which meant she would be the first person to ever go to college in our family. Now in a small town word gets around pretty fast, and not many people got to go to college there so the whole town was so excited."

Emily became a teacher and went to Oklahoma Baptist University, she moved from Illinois to Oklahoma and when she finished college she moved to Houston to start teaching there. Even though she doesn't keep in touch with her parents very often, she still knows that they are very proud of her and the person that she has become today.