September Memories

The month of September always brought a smile to my face. Then, two years ago, the month of September was shattered when my mother passed away. It was and is one of the greatest losses I will ever have. But, now that I have had the time to mourn her, I realize that September is still my favorite month. Today, September 26 is my mother's birthday and all I think about are the great times we shared. My children often think about her, but, in September, I noticed that they bring her up a lot more than usual. We laugh at the crazy memories and we remind ourselves that she is still with us in spirit. My mother was one of the great souls. She was one of those people that loved going to work. She was a Pharmacist. Everyday she had the opportunity to deal with different types of people and she had the experience of saving many lives. She never turned anyone away that needed help. I particularly remember all the sick , poor people that came into her store and needed medication. Fortunately, she was able to help them in someway. I also remember all of the crazy people that went into her store to buy drugs. The narcotic (need a prescription) kind. That was funny too. One day a woman came into the store and pulled her her leg off. Yes, that's right, she pulled her leg off. She began to bang it on the counter demanding her medicine and threatened to hit someone over the head with it if she didn't get her "drugs". My mom was not afraid of anyone. She told the lady if she didn't shut-up and stop disrupting her store, she would take the leg and throw it out the door. Then my mom said,"try and fetch it." The woman shut up real fast and I was in the back of the store on the floor hysterically laughing. My mom was real funny too. We used to make fun of her because of her heavy accent. She would say "bidamins" instead of "vitamins". Every time we corrected her, she would yell at at us and say "Don't make fun of my English!" Here I am today striving to be an ESL teacher. Who would have ever thought? I am thankful to have had such a great person in my life. I am also thankful for the wonderful memories. Hopefully, one day we will meet up again. September means more to me now than ever before.

shattered(verb)- to reduce to fragments suddenly; to smash; to damage or be damaged severely
mourn(verb)-to grieve for; to feel or express sorrow (someones dead)
noticed(verb)- to observe; to remark upon; to be aware of
usual(adjective)-customary; ordinary; normal
experience(noun)-knowledge obtained by seeing or doing
narcotic(noun)-a drug, often addictive, used to relieve pain and induce sleep

1. The window ______ after the baseball hit it.
2. I am so well known in Starbucks that every time I walk in , I ask for the ______.
3. My daughter ______ that a man was climbing through the neighbors window.
4. After my mother passed away, I ____ her death.
5. The schools need to teach the students that ______ are the same as "bad drugs."
6. The students had a great learning ____ when they went to the Bronx Zoo.

*grammar point- Adverbs are words that describe a verb or adjective or other adverbs. They often end in -ly. They say how you or something else is doing something. They can be determined by frequency, time and place, relative time and attitude markers.

Can you find any adverbs in the paragraph above?
Here are some commonly used adverbs: http://www.paulnoll.com/Books/Clear-English/English-adverbs.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWYmEICNgOQ