Charlotte at 18
Charlotte is 18 and a senior in high school. If she can make it through her last semester without failing anything (and complete one packet), then she will graduate in May. She has filled her senior year with creative classes. She took woodworking, mythology,and sewing first semester. Now she’s taking Jewelry making, studio art, creative writing, film literature, life activity, seminary, French, and Chemistry.
Charlotte is not sure what she wants to do after high school. She is an aspiring author and has been working on writing her own fiction novel. She has a group of friends who are all aspiring authors that she communicates with on a discord server. They also make plans and meet together in person or on video chats. They love to discuss aspects of the characters that they’re developing, plot ideas, character arcs and other such things. It’s interesting to me to hear them say things about their characters such as “she has a better fashion sense than me” because it makes me wonder about a character that can surpass her creator in sense of style.
Charlotte enjoys drawing. She taught herself to draw through nearly constant doodling at school and home. She is also an amateur art critic. She will often say “a child didn’t draw that” and then go on to explain why as we’re watching a show that has just shown a “child’s artwork.” She likes to look at art and talk about it. There are a few movies that she enjoys because of the artwork in the movie. Here are some of her drawings:
Charlotte enjoys being creative. She has grand ideas about things that she wants to make. Nowadays, most people generally find someone on the internet who has already successfully made a thing and piggyback off of their creations. Charlotte creates her ideas from scratch. She sketches out her ideas and often has to work her way through a variety of challenges to get her project right. This year her idea was to make some wings that would move when she pulled a string. She was very particular about how she wanted the feathers to change the way that they pointed depending on whether the wings were opened or closed.
Charlotte got her first job in April working as a front end courtesy clerk at a local grocery store. She bags groceries, collects carts from the parking lot and returns them to the store, sweeps the isles, puts items away (go backs), and cleans the bathrooms. After her first 4 hour shift, she said that she thought baggers should have chairs, but it sounded like she said badgers should have chairs which is why we are referring to her position as ‘badger’ instead of bagger, also because it’s much more fun to say.
Charlotte has two groups of friends that she enjoys spending time with. The first group includes friends that she has had for a long time, including her first best friend that she made after moving here more than 10 years ago. We refer to them as her DnD friends, because they met together every week for more than a year to play Dungeons and Dragons. They still try to meet up weekly, but several of them graduated from high school last year and are now away at college so they often have to meet up online. They also don’t play DnD anymore, much to Charlotte’s disappointment. Last summer they took a road trip together to Colorado to go to a Meowwolf immersive experience. They planned it all out and divided up meal assignments, found a place to stay, and binge listened to “Welcome to Nightvale” on the the way up and “The Magnus Archives” on the way home as they drove. Several of her “DnD friends” are part of that aspiring writer discord server that I mentioned earlier. Most (maybe all) of the girls in that group are very creative and excel at making things and enjoy drawing. They are very talented girls and I am impressed with their artwork and creations.
Charlotte’s second friend group is affectionately referred to as her “swine friends.” She met a girl from her school at girl’s camp in a writing class. They found that they have a lot in common since they both enjoy drawing and writing. They started having lunch together at school and her friend introduced her to a new friend group with about 5-6 fellow students who all eat lunch together in the back of the library. They became known as “swine friends” because they would often play a card game at lunch called Uncultured Swine. One member of the group bought everyone in the group Jackets that say “Cultured Swine” and he bought one “Uncultured Swine” jacket for one member of the group. The group is composed of 2 girls and 5-6 boys. They go out for food, watch movies, or play games together. Charlotte has been introducing them to Dungeons and Dragons and they have started their first campaign together with Charlotte as the DM (Dungeon Master).
Charlotte enjoys listening to music and audio drama podcasts. He favorite bands are a Canadian indie pop/rock band called Stars, Radical face which is categorized as folk/electronic, and The Crane Wives which describe themselves as a “home grown indie-folk outfit from Grand Rapids, Michigan that defies musical stereotypes.” Her favorite podcasts are Malevolent, the Magnus Archives, and Welcome to Nightvale.
Charlotte has recently developed an interest in thrift shopping. She has started to identify a style that she likes which I would describe as a mix of medieval/steampunk/gothic/cosplay. She likes things made out of leather like boots and coats. She also likes things like pirate shirts and interesting hats.
Charlotte continues to be fascinated by weapons. She used her first paycheck from her job to buy herself a custom made sword. She is proud of her knife collection and has recently purchased herself a compound bow. She hopes to set up her own ax throwing and archery range in the backyard.
Charlotte still carries a set of chopsticks with her at all times. Some of her favorite foods are sushi, Thai food, Hawaiian Haystacks, peaches and cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese with fresh tomatoes and basil, hummus, pepper jelly with fancy cheese and crackers, and honey walnut shrimp. She does not like melted cheese or American cheese.
Charlotte enjoys puzzles, cat petting, drawing, reading, archery, exploring, watching things burn, road trips, and being out in nature as long as it’s not too cold outside.
Here is what I wrote about Charlotte last year. I am greatful to have such a creative and fun daughter and I look forward to seeing what the future holds for my newest adult child!