He was my age. 
He could've gone to school with me. 
He could've had classes with me. 
He could've been my best friend. 

He was my age. 
He dropped the gun. 
He was just a kid. 
He was just a kid. 

HE WAS MY AGE. 
I could be next! 
I COULD BE NEXT!
Who will be next? 
..... 

He was my age. 

Rest in Peace, Adam Toledo. 
 

The Dinner Party uses a number of obscure words, but they are all real. This is a list of the odd words and their meanings (and a few pronunciations). Some of the words have multiple meanings and pronunciations, but I only included the meanings applicable to the poem.

You know when you’re little and your family always did that thing that made everyone happy and now you look back and it’s like where has all this gone? I have so many memories and moments that I think of every once and a while and it’s like wow. The one that hits the hardest was watching TV, usually the Dukes of Hazzard the original show, not the movies or anything. My family has the first three seasons. I know every one of those episodes by heart and which DVDs is too scratch to even work in the DVD player. When my sister and I were ready to watch we’d make popcorn in an air popper because we never had a microwave, melting the butter on the stovetop in a little cast iron pot. We would always put the Cabot popcorn cheese on it. We would be so excited we would pull the coach out from the walls and put them in rows like in the movie theater.

Hey everyone!
If you haven't read part one, READ IT!! But if you don't want to, here is a brief overview of Part 1. I'm a 13 (almost 14!) year old girl living with autism. Autism affects everyone in different ways, for me it makes it hard to be in social situations and I have a hard time understanding if someone is being sarcastic or if they are being real. To people, I can come across as annoying and weird, because I'm not really open about it because I don't want to be known as 'the girl with autism.'
In Part Two, Three and Four I'm going to talk about whats it's like for me living with autism, the good experiences, the bad ones, and even the horribly awkward ones. 
 I have a more uncommon type of autism where you can't tell by looking at me that I have it. But sometimes it's hard because sometimes when I talk to people they take it the wrong way

My childhood was PBS Kids on weekends and rainbow goldfish for snacks. It was books and reading, warmth and love. I was raised by Chris and Martin from Wild Kratts and found comfort in books like Caps for Sale and The Snowy Day. I learned how to be myself from Fancy Nancy and Chrysanthemum. I fell in love with Mooch from the books Just Like Heaven and Hug Time, and wanted to be in the book If You Give a Pig a Party. My days consisted of Welch’s fruit snacks and pirate booty; of Tangled and The Princess and the Frog. Mornings were for Dinosaur Train and afterschool was for Word Girl. My love of science stems from countless hours looking through botanical books and my dad reading A Seed is Sleepy. I loved it all, from puzzles to soccer games, my childhood was the best. Sure, I always wanted to watch SpongeBob and eat Freeze Pops; but no, I had it best.

On the outside, I may look like a normal 13 (almost 14!) year old girl. I do normal things like listen to music and play sports. But on the inside, it's way more complex. Autism affects everyone in a different way, for me it makes it hard to be in social situations and I have a hard time carrying conversations. It also makes situations hard for me to understand like if someone is being sarcastic or if someone is actually being real. As I said, it affects everyone differently. 
Google's definition of Autism is: "a developmental disorder of variable severity that is characterized by difficulty in social interaction and communication and by restricted or repetitive patterns of thought and behavior." This is a little harsh but honestly, it pretty much covers it.