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FINDING MY VOICE My friends haven't changed much as we have all been together from the beginning of first grade, plus or minus a few here and there. Just to let you know just how overwhelmed I was, one of my friends, Kelly, said, "Chloe, every day can't be a bad day," but it was. First grade was a nightmare. I wanted to learn to read under a tree and have lunch in the grass. I wasn't much for the classroom setting. As my grades suffered, especially in math, my mom taught me the power of my words and how to believe that everything I could ever want to be or do or have was most certainly possible. That is why she said they made fairytales with scary parts and miracles at the end. They were invented to be as a guide in our lives, to help us to believe in ourselves even when we were in the scary parts. Well, I was in the scary parts alright. My mom said that on my way to school, she would watch me through her rear-view mirror as I would say my affirmations to myself, "I am a good friend, I am a good friend, I am a good friend." And my teacher Mrs. "B," made those early years of learning to read much more enjoyable. God must have been looking over me when he made her because I don't think I would have ever made it that year. She even watched over me for a few years after that. She said that I had an imagination that needed to be nurtured and that I would be a great writer one day and that I had a really big heart. She had to be my most favorite teacher ever. When I look back, I am very thankful for all those lessons, because it is a huge part of who I am now. I KNOW that everything is possible. I actually learned to read and I am even good in math. I also loved to sing and if you ever look back over the videos of my plays in the earlier years, you will see that I am the one singing the loudest and with the biggest smile. I loved every chance to escape reality. From affirmations, I then learned to write down my goals. When I was almost nine, I wrote down everything I wanted to be when I grew up -- an artist, a published poet, and I wanted to do good in the world and promised to give back as I made my dreams come true. Well, you will never believe what happened next. I began painting angels, inspired by my mom and my cousin Jarah. Then people began ordering them and then someone I didn't even know would call and order one because they had seen oen in someone else's house. It was crazy. By the time I was nine, my Angel paintings were selling for $140 and I was donating a percentage of the profits to my favorite charity, Studio by the Tracks. It is a pretty special place. My mom and I love to go to their summer action and fund-raiser, "Art from the Heart," where I would donate one of my paintings. There was always so much love in that place and it made my heart sing. Then one day, a real angel, Mr. Michael who owns some stores in town, asked if I wanted to put my angels on t-shirts during the holidays and sell them in his stores in Birmingham. He happened to own Hallmark stores. Well of course I said yes. I also had a trunk show at Gus Mayer, one of his more upscale fashion stores. Lots of people came and I autographed over 50 t-shirts that day. My favorite was a little lady who had lost her husband earlier that year and she had read about my angels in the paper and had to have one. I knew that the angels had power to heal everyone they went home with that Christmas. I also received lots of letters from kids around Birmingham. One day, we came home and I had over 40 angel cards in the mail from the Advent School, the entire 3rd grade wrote to tell me that I had inspired them to create their dreams. I was very happy and it taught me a lot. And that isn't all, from there, a wonderful lady in Vienna, Austria, read my story and she invited me to "paint for peace and harmony," to paint my angels on canvas around the world by working with the United Nations Art Miles Mural Project. I was so excited and honored to have a chance to give back to the world. She also read my poetry and submitted it to the ChildArt Foundation and it was published along with my angels as I was chosen to represent the United States. My mom and I would just look at each other at times and laugh because all my dreams were happening at lightening speed with little effort on my part. That is when I knew I believed in angels and kids must have pretty powerful ones. I now travel around the United States giving children a voice by speaking for Peace and the Environment as a Peace Paint Ambassador for the project. I have attended the UN International Conference on the Environment and have made many friends while learning more about their environmental concerns. I also spoke last year during Earth Day in Denver, Colorado where I was honored to meet John McConnell, the founder of Earth Day, and his wife. He was just an ordinary man with a powerful vision for this world. He is an example to me of believing in our visions and taking the steps to see them come alive. I also like to think I set a good example for my friends to do what they can to make a difference as well. Sometimes though, it is hard because I really just want to fit in at school and talk about girl stuff with Selena or hang out with Jonathan and talk about boys. I think it is a nice balance. I hope they think I am a good person and that I do good in the world. Other than that, I just want to be me. So as you can see I have come a long way from singing myself off the sidewalk, though I think that keeping our imagination alive is one of the biggest ingredients to our dreams. Since the age of nine, I have dedicated my life to doing what I can to make a difference in the world and to have fun in the process. School has been very challenging, and I have learned that all I can do is my best. I also have learned that when you believe in your dreams, doors fly open and it is so exciting to walk through and enjoy the experience even if you aren’t sure where it leads. - Chloe Fugate |
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