Personal Narrative: How Smiley Changed My Life

I’ve always been a happy person. Growing up, I had a smile plastered on my face. In elementary school, my principal even gave me the nickname of “Smiley”. I never really had a reason or purpose for my upbeat attitude growing up. I had good friends, a loving family and did well in school, but I never thought about any of that. I just liked to smile and be happy. I still managed to put a smile on my face even when things weren’t fine and dandy. In fourth grade, my grandma suffered from a stroke and passed away. Although I did my fair share of grieving, I still put a smile on for the world. The same thing happened in eighth grade when my first dog, who I had for 10 years died; I grieved and then the smile came right back. As I was growing up, I also began to realize summer break felt shorter and shorter every year. A year didn’t seem like a long time anymore. I started to realize how short life really was. …show more content…
One of her favorite songs came on, “100 Years” by Five For Fighting. I had listened to this song many times before. I remember singing along to the lyrics and having a good time. If you’re unfamiliar with the song, each stanza begins with a different age. “I’m 15 for a moment/ Caught in between 10 and 20/ And I’m just dreaming / Counting the ways to where you are.” Each verse ends with the line “there’s never a wish better than this/ When you only got a hundred years to live.” I remember once the song finished, during this particular “belt session”, I said, “Wow, what if we did only have 100 years to live?” Then I realized we do. At that very moment, life felt the shortest it ever has. In a matter of four minutes, this song was able to capture a century of