I made a lot of poor decisions when I was young.

Take, for example, my choice for dramatic readings for speech competitions.

I chose to read passages from a book I absolutely loved.

That may seem perfectly understandable –  but only if you think common sense was involved.

It wasn’t.

The book was The Outsiders, which means all the characters were adolescent males. Since I was an adolescent female, some people were confused.

No matter how hard I worked at capturing the essence of the passages, the judges weren’t impressed with my efforts. The feedback I received was “wrong choice of work.”

Not only that, but I when I chose my competition piece, I didn’t know The Outsiders was being made into a major motion picture. It opened in theaters during speech season.

That didn’t impress the judges either.

In hindsight, I don’t really care if the judges were impressed. I loved the book, and The Outsiders will always hold a place in my heart. Not only was the story inspirational, so was the author.

Susan Eloise Hinton started writing the novel when she was 16. It was published by the time she was 18.

And then it was banned from some schools and libraries because of violence, underage smoking and drinking, strong language and family dysfunction.

Ironically, as a high school student, I witnessed all of those on a regular basis. I just never wrote about them.

Fortunately, what I didn’t witness was the book being removed from my local library.

And the fact that it was available for me to read always makes me smile.

Day 80:  The Outsiders  Day 79:  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Day 78: The First Amendment

Day 77: People Who Touch Our Lives   Day 76:  The Rewards of Parenting    Day 75:  Improvements   Day 74:  Family Traditions   Day 73: Learning From Our Mistakes  Day 72: Live Music  Day 71:  Sleeping In  Day 70:  Grover  Day 69:  A Good Hair Day   Day 68:  A Sense of Community   Day 67: Kindness    Day 66: Living in a Place You Love   Day 65: Gifts from the Heart  Day 64: The Arrival of Fall  Day 63: To Kill a Mockingbird   Day 62: Green Lights Day 61:  My Canine Friends  Day 60:  Differences   Day 59:  A New Box of Crayons   Day 58: Bookworms  Day 57: Being Oblivious   Day 56: Three-day Weekends  Day 55:  A Cat Purring  Day 54: Being a Unique Individual   Day 53: Children’s Artwork  Day 52: Lefties  Day 51: The Neighborhood Deer   Day 50: Campfires  Day 49: Childhood Crushes  Day  48: The Words “Miss You”  Day 47:  Birthday Stories   Day 46: Nature’s Hold on Us  Day 45:  Play-Doh   Day 44: First Day of School Pictures  Day 43: Calvin and Hobbes  Day 42: Appreciative Readers  Day 41: Marilyn Monroe’s Best Quote   Day 40:  Being Silly  Day 39:  Being Happy Exactly Where You Are  Day 38: Proud Grandparents  Day 37: Chocolate Chip Cookies   Day 36: Challenging Experiences that Make Great Stories  Day 35: You Can’t Always Get What You Want  Day 34:  Accepting the Fog    Day 33: I See the Moon  Day 32: The Stonehenge Scene from This is Spinal Tap  Day 31: Perspective  Day 30:  Unlikely Friendships  Day 29: Good Samaritans  Day 28:  Am I a Man or Am I a Muppet?    Day 27: Shadows  Day 26: Bike Riding on Country Roads  Day 25: When Harry Met Sally  Day 24: Hibiscus   Day 23: The Ice Cream Truck  Day 22:  The Wonderful World of Disney   Day 21: Puppy love  Day 20 Personal Theme Songs     Day 19:  Summer Clouds  Day 18: Bartholomew Cubbin’s Victory Day 17:  A Royal Birth    Day 16:  Creative Kids Day 15: The Scent of Honeysuckle   Day 14: Clip of Kevin Kline Exploring His Masculinity Day 13: Random Text Messages from My Daughter     Day 12:  Round Bales of Hay Day 11:  Water Fountains for Dogs    Day 10: The Rainier Beer Motorcycle Commercial Day 9: Four-Leaf Clovers  Day 8: Great Teachers We Still Remember Day  7:  Finding the missing sock   Day 6:  Children’s books that teach life-long lessons Day 5: The Perfect Photo at the Perfect Moment     Day 4:  Jumping in Puddles   Day 3: The Ride Downhill after the Struggle Uphill    Day 2: Old Photographs Day 1: The Martians on Sesame Street