The only noise in the classroom was the sound of the clock. Tick. Tick. Tick. Students were counting down the seconds till 3 o'clock waiting for the weekend to start, but me? Nope, I wasn't even aware of the time all I could focus on was the big circled “F” on my paper and the same question repeating in my head "How did I do so bad?”. Then suddenly the bell rang. I watched students rush out of the classroom thrilled, hopeful, and overall happy. I was feeling the complete opposite. I slowly started walking. I even debated going to talk to the teacher about my grade, but I was too outraged and worried about what I might say. So instead I walked out of the classroom still staring at my paper. Before I knew it I got to the car, sat down, and saw that the car was packed. I forgot about the camping trip my family and I were taking this weekend.

I didn’t want to go, but I always wanted to go camping. I was confused as to why I wasn't excited. Then I look over and see the piece of paper with a big circled “F” on it sitting where I last left it and then it occurs to me that right now all I care about is this stupid grade. So instead of just looking at the “F” I start looking at the answers I put down, they seemed right. Before I got my paper back I thought I did well. Apparently not. My grades are all very important to me, I get straight A’s, I try my hardest, and now I'm not a straight-A student. The last thing I wanna do is go up north camping and not be able to tell my family I'm a straight-A student. Then my mom finally turns around. I honestly am not sure how long it's been since I got in the car and she asked me why I'm so quiet. I'm not sure if I should tell her about my grade or not. I ended up showing her tho, I handed her the paper and thankfully she wasn't mad, but I still was. I was mad at myself for getting this grade and letting it ruin my mindset. I know other students wouldn't care so much but for some reason, it's all I was thinking about. Maybe if I went to talk to the teacher about it I would have some good news. If I asked I would’ve found out if I could retake it or do extra credit for it but since I didn't I'm going to keep worrying about it. It feels as if my mind has been going a million miles an hour so I decided to try and nap; mostly because I would rather do anything else than think about it.

I woke up and recognized where we were immediately. We were about 5 minutes away from the Wolf's Den, the campground where my family and I have been going since I was a baby. 

For some reason, I didn't get the same rush as I always get. I ignored it and we pulled up to the restaurant assuming our other family members were in there, and they were. We greet each other like usual, I say hi to a couple of other people that I know from previous visits and then we go sit down. Once time went by the topic of school came up. My grandma asked me how it was going and I didn't want to lie. I told her about my classes, grades, even my bad ones, and then my teachers. The conversation was not bad at all. I thought it would be but she didn't seem to care about my one bad grade and then she proceeded to tell me she was proud of me. I stopped and thought about those four words she said to me “ I’m proud of you”. How could she be proud of me if I failed a test earlier today? That thought stayed with me for the rest of the night. By the time we started heading back to the campers to bed, I was exhausted and ready to get some sleep.

I woke up to the sun shining in our camper and I looked over to see that both my parents were gone, which I'm used to because I sleep in later than them. I was in no rush so I stayed in bed thinking. I thought about the conversation I had with my grandma last night. She said she was proud of me even though I didn't do well on my test and I knew my parents weren't worried about it. My mom even told me it didn't matter because she said she knows I'll be able to get my grade up and honestly I know too. I know that it was one test and I'm not perfect and from now on I want to not worry about it and have fun this weekend. So the first thing I did was get out of bed, get dressed, and walk to where all my family is. As I'm walking I realize how beautiful it is outside. I'm not sure if I didn't notice last night because I was worrying about my grade or what but it seriously is breathtaking. I get to the camper and just like always my whole family is sitting out on the porch facing the lake with coffee cups in their hands. Everyone except my cousins, Micheal and Jacob, who always sleep later than everyone else. A couple of hours pass and everyone is up and we start talking about what we want to do. All the kids, including me, want to go tubing on the lake and the adults are smart enough not to say no. So my cousins and I argue about what tube we want to use and then we agree on one and blow it up, or I should say Micheal blows it up and Jacob and I watch. While Micheal does that Jacob and I go tell our other cousins to get ready. I meet everyone by the dock maybe 10 minutes later and another rush hits me because memories of us tubing last summer start flooding in my mind. Looking back I didn't think about my grade once all I know is that I planned on having lots of fun.

That's exactly what happened. I'm not sure I've ever had so much fun tubing and after tubing, we stayed on the boat all day which is my favorite. Then once we got off the boat we decided not to go down to the restaurant but instead stay up at our camper and eat. We all sat by the campfire and ate. We ended up staying up way too late but it was very worth it because everyone shared some pretty hilarious stories which made my stomach hurt from laughing so much. Once we realized what time it was we headed for bed and I laid down and thought about how amazing the day was and what would’ve happened if I kept worrying about my grade. 

What I took away from this situation was a better way to manage my feelings and keep things in perspective. One bad grade doesn’t compare to all of the good grades I have and if someone dwells on a bad grade or a difficult situation they are bound to miss out on the good. I recognize that this can be difficult to do in every situation, but it will get easier with time and practice.