I am fortunate enough to be one of the daughters of Dan Bruce Cornwell. And even luckier to be the daughter that he raised. As a child, I we would eat ice cream together, with him laying on his stomach on the ground, and I laying on my stomach but on his back and we would lay there and eat vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup while watching HBO; it was still one of the channels that came with cable back then. I would stand at the back door after school and wait for him to pull in the garage and then stand on the steps so he could pick me up and give me a hug simultaneously when he got out of the car. We listened to classic rock in the garage while he would fix anything that need fixing until supper was ready. To make a long childhood short, I was with my dad a lot as a kid and I wish it was still like that.
     On my 16th birthday I made the decision to move in with my dad so I would be there during the week instead of the weekends and even though I was there on more days of the week, it seemed like I was starting to less and less of him as time went on. I went to school, and left to go hang with friends, I aquired a boyfriend and then finally a job. Before I knew it, I was lucky to get a talk to him for a  minutes before he went to bed. This is very saddening to me and I think that it would be a good idea to dedicate one night of the week to him for a father daughter date.
     So next week, I'm going to start doing that.

Ti-ti (tee-tee)

Short for Tia. Which means aunt in Spanish. My sister, nephew, mother or I don't speak Spanish nor do we have any Latin in us but we thought it would be a good name for me and it's much easier for my one and a half year old nephew to say. He is my only nephew and he is my sister's son. His dad is not around so my mother and I help my sister rasie him.  I was the second name for him to learn. Papa was first. He still doesn't know his own name, Travonn, but he knows the rest of us. He loves my car and he still struggles putting two words together but whenever I arrive he will excitedely shout Ti-ti cah! That means aunt Danielle's car. He loves going for rides in it and he surprisingly behaves his best when he is in the car. He's very passionate and you must have a lot of patience if you are going to watch him for more than an hour. Like his mother, he must get a lot of attention and believe me, he does. Travonn is in for a very rude awakening because his brother is going to be born in less than a month. I, on the other hand, cannot wait for my unborn nephew to arrive. I love being an aunt and I know that my sister will need more help than ever with her having her second child and her still being a single mother. My mother is her primary babysitter and with my mom working for the union now and going to work seven days a week, 12 hours a day, I will be seeing his curly headed, caramel face quite frequently. And that is okay with me.

     As a McPerson, I no longer get so mad or frustrated at people who work at fast food places. I understand what they go through and I can more easily forgive them for their mistakes and making my food not so fast sometimes. I also understand why people say you should go to college so you don't have to work at McDonald's for the rest of your life.
     I am going on my seventh month as a Crew Member at McDonald's and I am almost to my breaking point. It is terrible. It was my first job ever and it took me a year to find it. I don't enjoy my job but I am forever grateful of McDonald's because they were the only business in the entire Sterling-Rock Falls area to hire me. It's not my employer that I hate, I get paid minimum wage and I get the weekends off, it's when a customer treats you like a specials needs five year old, that's the hard part of the job. I can take the fast paced bagging, ordertaking, handing things out the window, and so forth; It's the disrespect, ungratefulness, and straight up rudeness that is hard to deal with. Very few people genuinely thank me, but when they do, it makes my job worth doing. The other 90% of the customers can really wear on you and by the end of my shift, I feel like breaking down and crying. It sounds dramatic, but you can ask any of my coworkers and they will tell you the same. I've even seen some of them crying during work because of a customer.
     McPeople aren't stupid, we aren't careless, we aren't high school dropouts who don't have goals for ourselves; we are mothers, honor students, and caring people and yes, we sometimes make a mistakes but its almost impossible not to when you take thousands of orders a day and are expected to have everything you want ready in a couple minutes. So next time you go to a fast food place, please, don't forget your manners, and don't forget that we are normal people and we have feelings too.

Turning 18

I will soon be 18, on September 15 to be exact. I am excited about a number of things that will happen when I am legally an adult. The first I am going to do is get my septum pierced. Zachary and I are going to go to the Scorpion’s Den in Davenport to do it. It's also a tattoo parlor and might be tempted to get the Wu-Tang tat I've been wanting but I might wait on that.  

After that, my mother and the rest of my family will be going to eat at my restaurant of choice (which is always Arthur’s). I will most likely get a small number four with LMO and a cup of cream of potato soup, and then grab a chocolate cake cone on my way out the door. I’m going to assume that I won’t be receiving any presents for two reasons; one, I already got my “birthday present” a month ago (my weave and hair straightener) from my parents, and two, I don’t want to think I’m going to get something and then be disappointed when I don’t.

The following day, Friday, my sister and I are going to go play bingo! I am so stinkin' excited for bingo. I have heard so many wonderful about playing from my mother and sister and am glad that I can finally join in on the fun. The Friday night pots are usually pretty big so hopefully I win and can buy myself the Teavana set I want as a special birthday gift from myself.

Some of the less exciting things about turning 18, that I will soon be a part of are being able to go get my mother cigarettes when she needs them. I'm not particularly pumped about this but my boyfriend will be glad that he won't have to go in and ask for a pack of Misty Silvers anymore. Techincally, I could go to strip clubs if I ever I wanted too but I don't see that I would ever would. It's just nice to know that I could. This upcoming election, I can cast my vote. I am already registered and then i can talk politics with adults because I am finally part of the process.

I am finally going to be as old as I feel and my age will no longer hold me back.