Carlisle Eden, age 14, Mariah Eden, age 13, The Plains, VA, August 3, 2001 Robin Bowman

Carlisle Eden, age 14 The hardest thing about being a teenager is peer pressure. People force you to kiss or something… [They’ll] be like, “Come on, just do it, no one will know.” I’m happiest when I’m with my family and friends… My parents divorced when I was seven or eight. We live with my mom most of the time, and we see our dad every other weekend or every two weekends… My sister can tell me anything and she taught me how to tie my shoes and stuff and she is younger than me. I do want a family of my own one day. One where my children can tell me everything, where they wouldn’t be like, “Don’t tell Mom!” if they did something wrong. And I would just tell them, “Don’t do it next time,” and I’d be easy on them. I get shy around a lot of people and I try to be outgoing but it’s hard. I’m scared I’ll do something wrong… I guess what I like most about myself is that I would never do something wrong. Something in me just tells me to do what I think. Mariah Eden, age 13 Boys are the toughest thing about being a teenager. They expect so much from you and they go way too far with things. Always. The best thing about being a teenager is your friends. They always help you out if you need anything. I’d like to just end war. I always have a fear of my brother having to go. I don’t like it at all. My dad had to go. I don’t know which war. My grandfather had to, too. I think it was Vietnam… I would like to make peace… I just think everybody gets in too many fights and they don’t forgive. And that’s how divorce happens and I think I’m going to change that when I’m older. I don’t know how yet. I’m thinking.