Michelle Brodegard

My full name is Michelle Brodegard, I am the youngest of seven children, along with my twin.  I was  born on May 17, 1991 to William Connelly Brodegard and Janis Mary Lockwood Brodegard, in Columbus, Ohio. The house I was brought home to, was 5675 Sandalwood Blvd in Franklin County.  At this house we had a huge sandbox with a tree in the center.  The tree was really big and it had a branch that stuck out from the tree that we could sit on, or jump from onto the trampoline.  We did a lot of jumping onto the trampoline, from the tree, from the roof, etc.  We did not have a TV so the back yard was our entertainment.  In our backyard we had lots of trees, a trampoline, and the big sandbox, I mentioned earlier.  Our neighbor had a swing set and we were allowed to jump the fence anytime we wanted to go and play on it, but we didn't do it that often, because they had big dogs, so therefore big dog poo everywhere.  Unlike our dog who picked a spot in the yard as his bathroom, her dogs just went where ever they felt. Being the youngest, my twin Jenn and I would often tag along with our older siblings and do what they do.  One time we made a swing.  Our swing was a piece of wood we found tied to a rope on both ends and then tied to a tall tree branch.  We made it extra high, so you had to jump on the trampoline to reach the swing and then climb onto it once you grasped it.  In order to swing, we tied another long rope to the swing and let it hang.  Someone on the ground would then take the long hanging rope and pull to rock the person sitting on the swing.  As I said, I was younger, so I was lucky to just barely be able to grasp the swing once someone lifted me up so instead of swinging I usually just hung holding on with my hands and was rocked back and forth by the puller.  One day we, Jenn and my next oldest sister Catherine, were playing on our homemade swing.  I was hanging and Catherine was pulling.  I was enjoying it when I realized I was beginning to slip, I do not know whether I called out or not, but I fell from the swing and must have been at the top of the arch because I missed the trampoline and fell to the ground.  I ended up breaking my arm from that adventure.  However, this has not stopped us from playing and creating new, possibly dangerous, things, either.

The first school I attended was Forest Park Elementary School.  The school was very close, we could walk from our house.  It was there that I attended kindergarten through second grade.  My first day at kindergarten was kind of scary.  My teacher, Mrs. Wilson, was very nice and when we arrived she told us to go and sit on the carpet.  Jennifer was more scared than I was, I do not remember whether it was my mom or dad who dropped us off, but they were carrying Jennifer and when she realized she had to let go she started to cry.
...to be continued