Personal Narrative Outline

I will be writing about Imperial Lane, my neighborhood of 19 years. I decided to write about the hood because it forged who I am today, and my neighbor, Doug is still my best friend to this day. I will be writing about multiple different spots within the neighborhood and about multiple different events taking place in multiple different years. The neighborhood provided a young band of thieves, inventors, and kids just looking for fun, countless hours of fun and adventures that I, and I hope my comrades, will never forget. Imperial Lane is a small little neighborhood located in Highland City, FL. As you pull into the neighborhood, there is a canopy of great oaks that greet you. After you drive down the straight first quarter mile of Imperial Lane, you reach a fork in the road, but the road comes back together after this fork. After passing the fork, you have the option to continue on your straight path, taking you to the cul de sac in which Chase and I lived on. The second option is for you to take a right onto Oakmont Lane. This, much longer side street is where a few more friends reside, Alex, Gabriel, Doug, Ben, and Cliff. There were also some kids that would move in and out, like Hannah, Sydney, Savanah, Max, and Shelby. Through time, we took adventures playing on our neighbors tennis court, going through the jungle behind a neighbors house and creating a tree house, digging holes in a sandy pit (the remains of a house flooded by a temporary lake that forms during rainy/hurricane season), venturing out into a pasture and making a base of an old barn, and many more adventures.

Sand pit: 2007-2008

Doug- 10-11 Y/O Middle of the pack in height, brown hair, talkative

Cliff- 8-9 Y/O Young man of the group, short, brown hair, easily made cry

Alex- 10-11 Y/O Tall, short black hair, homeschooled

Chase- 9-10 Y/O Tall, Brown hair, very mannerly

Luke- 9-10 Y/O Tall, Blonde hair, wild

After a recent string of three hurricanes, a house was flooded, then demolished. All that was left behind was an empty plot filled with sand, so what better to do then to dig? Holes were made, forts were made, battles were fought, alliances were formed. Most of the fun was getting in the forts and just chilling after building a huge hole in the ground and covering it with branches to give shade in the hot Florida sun. These are some of my happiest memories of the whole gang being together and having fun.

Middle of the fork fort: 2006/2007

Doug- 9-10 Y/O Middle of the pack in height, brown hair, talkative

Cliff- 7-8 Y/O Young man of the group, short, brown hair, easily made cry

Alex- 9-10 Y/O Tall, short black hair, homeschooled

Chase- 8-9 Y/O Tall, Brown hair, very mannerly

Luke- 8-9 Y/O Tall, Blonde hair, wild

In the middle of the fork in the road, there is a tree that has a hollow interior. Being curious kids who thought all land was our land, we decided to build a fort in the middle of this tree. After bringing many household items out to the tree and making it look like a homeless person lived here, we had the bright idea to go into a house, in which the previous owners had moved out, and reclaim some of the furniture they had left behind. After leaving the front door open, someone called the police and we were scolded for our task. This is yet another adventure we took as kids, but memories were made

Treehouse: 2008/2009

Doug- 12-13 Y/O Middle of the pack in height, brown hair, talkative

Cliff- 10-11 Y/O Young man of the group, short, brown hair, easily made cry

Alex- 12-13 Y/O Tall, short black hair, homeschooled

Chase- 11-12 Y/O Tall, Brown hair, very mannerly

Luke- 11-12 Y/O Tall, Blonde hair, wild

Ben- 14-15 Y/O Short, Introverted, not usually involved in neighborhood activities

In Doug, Ben, and Cliff’s back yard, there was a fence, separating cleanly cut grass from flood plain- turned jungle. This jungle housed creatures ranging from banana spiders to tortoise to coyotes. Deep in the forest, there lay an old abandoned tree house. This, the boys and I thought, was the perfect spot to make a new tree house. We collected pieces of wood and a rope and brought these materials back to the fort, as well as some hammers and nails. After completing the fort, we decided to have this be the new hangout spot and we added some chairs and a fireplace. I felt like I happy to be with my friends.