I have had a wonderful childhood, but I feel that it has lasted longer than normal. As a young child I was forever encouraged to play, play, play so that I would stay out of my parents hair while they got things done. There have been many times they have stopped me from obtaining something without realizing the effect it could have on my future, but regardless it honestly made me want to make them prouder.
             Some parents like their children always busy, active in sports, dance, art classes,etc. If I wanted to do all those things I'm sure my parents would have enrolled me, but as a child of 7 or 8 I was pretty satisfied with swimming lessons Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and 1dance class a week. If I was satisfied they were too.
             It wasn't until much later, about 10, 11, and 12 that I started to lose interest in the scheduled activities I was involved in because it started to become a hassle for my parents to bring me and pick me up since they shared only one car. I didn't like being late, the last one to leave, to depend on others for rides, or not even attending at all.
             It wasn't that I didn't devote my time to anything after that; it meant that I did things that were more convenient or spread out. I entered a beauty pageant, did theatre in the summer, as well as travel to Italy some summers. Although I did play softball, I didn't take it as seriously as I thought I'd wanted to and as my father wanted me to. Those I saw who did take it as seriously as they did were the coach's daughter or those with parents that paid for special training. A happy-go-lucky coach headed the last recreation team I joined before high school. My only drives were having fun, making new friendships, and laughing along the way.
             My confidence soared because I grabbed a lead part in the town's production of" The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" a...