Narrative Autobiography

            I have a life just like everybody else but just a little different in my eyes.  Not like the typical family that you see on television with one mom, one dad, two kids, and a dog. When I was younger I knew I didn’t look like the rest of my family.  I didn’t have the same skin color, hair, or eye color.  My mother is a single parent who never married.  She is the oldest sibling in her family.  I asked my mother one day why I didn’t look like the rest of my family.  She explained that I was adopted, and told me what adoption meant and how she found me.  I was a confused seven year old who thought something was wrong with me. I hated the world, and wouldn’t speak to my Mom and the rest of my family for weeks. My Mom said that my birth mother couldn’t take care of me, and that I came at the wrong time.

 

            Now that I am much older, I understand that everything happens for a reason. I have a loving and caring family and a great mother.  I don’t care that I don’t look like anyone else. I have a family and I fit in. I don’t know if one day I will ever find my birth mother, but I hope to do so.  I have many questions that my adoptive mother and other people cannot answer.  Every year as my birthday approaches I begin to wonder how soon we will meet, and how soon my questions will finally be answered.  I would like to know if I have any half siblings, if I look like anyone, what is my true ethnic background, and where my athletic ability came from. It is one of my biggest goals to fill in the missing chapter of my life. I am seventeen years old, my eighteenth birthday is just around the corner, and I won’t let my questions go unanswered any longer.

 

            I have a great love of sports, especially track and field. When I was younger, I had no idea that running was a sport. I discovered track and field in the fifth grade.  I signed up with the Beyond the Bell after school program for my first ever track meet.  I was unsure exactly what I signed up for.  I was told by the coaches that I was fast, and that I had a good chance of winning a medal.  They put my name down for the 200 meter race.  I trained along with my classmates for a few weeks.  When we arrived at the meet I was nervous but excited at the same time. My race came, and I was ready.  When the gun sounded I knew exactly what to do.  I ran hard and fast.  It felt like I was all alone on the track.  They called out my name and lane four and said I won first place.  I placed first in my age group and second overall.

 

            I began to watch professionals runners compete.  I saw my first 100 meter hurdle race.   I thought that it was unique, would take a lot of time to learn.  When I started track in high school I asked Coach Cox to teach me how to run the 100 meter hurdles.  I came home with bumps and bruises every day.  I fell often during practice, but knew I had to keep going. I impressed my coaches by coming in first at my first junior varsity 100 meter hurdle race. I was pretty good for a freshman.  I was and still am today the only hurdler at Fairfax High School.

I haven’t won gold at finals yet, only silver, but I am determined to win the gold before I leave Fairfax.  I am on time to practice every day, always the first one on the field and the last one off. I hope to attend UCLA with a track scholarship.  I have been a Bruin since the day I was born.  My whole family attended UCLA. I am excited to see where life takes me.