Chicken Noodle Soup

No, I'm not talking about the soup you eat when you're sick, I'm talking about the books. Have you ever heard of them? They're quite possibly some of the best books I have ever read. For those of you who don't know, Chicken Noodle Soup books are a collection of stories written by people from all over the world talking about life lessons including relationships, death, friendships, responsibility, peer pressure, etc. There's currently over 100 copies of Chicken Noodle Soup addressed to different groups of people. My dad has the Chicken Noodle Soup for the Golfer's Soul, my mom the Chicken Noodle Soup for the caretakers soul, and I have several copies: for the cheerleading soul, the teenage soul (two different ones), and just a regular Chicken Noodle Soup for the reader's soul. I usually get them for Christmas or from my grandmother who is an avid reader herself. Each time I get a new one, I make it a habit to read the entire thing in one sitting. It usually doesn't take long, maybe a couple hours but the stories intrigue me, each one being different and new. They've taught me lots of things and I've gained lots of insight and advice from these books. The very first one I ever read was my freshman year in high school, you know that lots of things change when you enter high school. It's when you're truly identifying who you are, what you want to do, and who you want to be remembered as. I know that I was confused as to what groups I should join, who I wanted to be friends with, and what classes I wanted to take. The first story I ever read was about just this. A girl entering high school with no clue as to what she wanted to do. She ended up trying out for color gaurd and made it and she made new friends out of this and ended up being in show choir and retained a good group of friends. The best advice she could give is to don't be afraid of letting your true self shine. Don't be afraid to do something you love, because you know you'll miss out if you don't at least give it a shot. This is what inspired me to try out for cheerleading and when I did end up making it, I began making friends with my new squad members and have loved cheerleading ever since. I feel as though each story provides a good moral or good piece of advice that can apply to any situations. No matter what story I read, I feel as though I can relate it to my own life. Lots of the hardships and struggles that the people go through I feel I've gone through too, and that's what makes the book so personal and real. The pieces having to do with tragedies are the most heart-wrenching but the best ones to read. While something sad usually does happen, it provides ways to deal or pointing out good things about the situations. These ones are usually my favorite to read.When it says the book is for the cheerleaders soul, I think it truly means it. First off, half the stories would make no sense to a non-cheerleader, using terms like stunting, tumbling, and straight legged jumps. Second off, each of the stories talks about cheerleading in some way shape or form. I guess one of my favorite parts of the book is that it tailors to you. At the end of each book there is a section about where to submit your own pieces of writing. I've always wanted to write and submit a story to the Chicken Noodle Soup authors, but have no idea what to write about. I guess my life is somewhat average, but there's many things that have happened to me that I could write about. Like my biological father being an alcholic, or living life with a step dad, with lots of siblings, about cheerleading, about academics, about many things. However, as I said before, my favorite ones are the heart-wrenchers because they're so heartfelt and most remembered in my mind. So I've decided that I want to write one of these to submit to Chicken Noodle Soup in hopes that my message and my story can touch and help others in their time of need. I'm going to be using my upcoming essay for AP Language as a draft and hopefully as the piece I'm going to submit. I've decided to talk about living with a father with alcoholism and how it has affected me in both good and bad ways. I guess I've realized when reading sentimental things, I get most inspired and now I hope to inspire others. God Bless.