What are your passions?
I hail from a world of beautiful dysfunction. My parents went their separate ways when I was six leaving me to a life of multiple dimensions and essentially, a juggling act. Though my parents tried desperately to keep all the corners of our lives together, I learned of the disorder in human nature despite their efforts. As if to distract me from the inconveniency of switching homes, playing messenger for financial issues, and step-parents; my parents began to breed me to live. As people we have choices, and I was taught early on to choose the fun route. Essentially, I learned the art of the passion for living fully. For all our flaws as a family, we became stronger and happier through our passion for the gift of life. We wasted not a moment, but picked up the pieces and ran with them.
My father once surprised me in my youth with an array of pie crusts and countless bottles of whip cream. The next thing I knew every kid in the neighborhood, including my father, was covered in our makeshift pies. We laughed and ran and laughed. That was only the beginning. We trekked to Mexico and my dad handed a man on the beach a wad of cash to put me up in the air for a little parasailing. I went up without my heart skipping a beat and failed to wipe the grin off my face for the whole twenty minutes I was a mere flyaway balloon in the horizon. At ten, my grandfather got me a ride in an open cockpit biplane painted red and my brother and I soared higher and higher with wind-swept happy tears rolling down our cheeks. Summers were spent making friends with strangers and running into the icy waves of the Pacific in the pitch black of evening laughing like crazy. I became infused with the wonders of adrenaline rushes and good old fashioned adventures.
I spent twelve years of my life playing soccer. Weekends were chaotic and usually spent in hotel rooms in distant cities having pillow fights and playing elevator tag with my fellow teammates. We’d run fast and play hard, and we’d always end games with a sense of pride in ourselves because we knew we’d done the best we could and we had fun. Four days a week we’d drive through horrific traffic smiling and putting on our beat-up cleats on the way to our club’s infamous fields. It was the type of hard work that made you feel good inside. I made some amazing friends and I learned a great deal about motivation and chasing dreams. My teammates were my sisters and my coach was our mentor and they were the most incredible people I’ve ever been in one room with. We cried together and we laughed together. We lost some games, but we always won something from the losses.
Passion drives me. I’m nearing eighteen years old and I’m up to my neck in school. I’ve lost four relatives in the past three months to cancer. My dad recently re-married and my mother is dealing with the news that her mother, my Nana, has been diagnosed with cancer. I’m the only kid left in the house being the baby of the family and I’ve been left to deal with this alone. There is one thing that keeps me smiling and that is the lesson I was taught from an early age: live your life like you’ve always wanted to live it. It’s nearing Christmas time and New Years and midterms. I have never been happier. I am surrounded by incredible people and I’ve lived a life I’m proud of. I am a strong person with high hopes and dreams and I have my greatest passion to thank for that. The beautiful thing about it is that it will never fail me. For the remainder of my life, I will carry in me a thrill for the simple pleasure of living, and that will not be lost on those whose lives I touch.
My father once surprised me in my youth with an array of pie crusts and countless bottles of whip cream. The next thing I knew every kid in the neighborhood, including my father, was covered in our makeshift pies. We laughed and ran and laughed. That was only the beginning. We trekked to Mexico and my dad handed a man on the beach a wad of cash to put me up in the air for a little parasailing. I went up without my heart skipping a beat and failed to wipe the grin off my face for the whole twenty minutes I was a mere flyaway balloon in the horizon. At ten, my grandfather got me a ride in an open cockpit biplane painted red and my brother and I soared higher and higher with wind-swept happy tears rolling down our cheeks. Summers were spent making friends with strangers and running into the icy waves of the Pacific in the pitch black of evening laughing like crazy. I became infused with the wonders of adrenaline rushes and good old fashioned adventures.
I spent twelve years of my life playing soccer. Weekends were chaotic and usually spent in hotel rooms in distant cities having pillow fights and playing elevator tag with my fellow teammates. We’d run fast and play hard, and we’d always end games with a sense of pride in ourselves because we knew we’d done the best we could and we had fun. Four days a week we’d drive through horrific traffic smiling and putting on our beat-up cleats on the way to our club’s infamous fields. It was the type of hard work that made you feel good inside. I made some amazing friends and I learned a great deal about motivation and chasing dreams. My teammates were my sisters and my coach was our mentor and they were the most incredible people I’ve ever been in one room with. We cried together and we laughed together. We lost some games, but we always won something from the losses.
Passion drives me. I’m nearing eighteen years old and I’m up to my neck in school. I’ve lost four relatives in the past three months to cancer. My dad recently re-married and my mother is dealing with the news that her mother, my Nana, has been diagnosed with cancer. I’m the only kid left in the house being the baby of the family and I’ve been left to deal with this alone. There is one thing that keeps me smiling and that is the lesson I was taught from an early age: live your life like you’ve always wanted to live it. It’s nearing Christmas time and New Years and midterms. I have never been happier. I am surrounded by incredible people and I’ve lived a life I’m proud of. I am a strong person with high hopes and dreams and I have my greatest passion to thank for that. The beautiful thing about it is that it will never fail me. For the remainder of my life, I will carry in me a thrill for the simple pleasure of living, and that will not be lost on those whose lives I touch.