Small 1Christian SmallMs. Kendall ParrisENC 11013 July 2014Small Moments in a Big LifeLife is a collection of moments, stories that make yourself unique from everyone else on the planet. Your stories define you, and they define what you do in your life. They define your decision-making. Your personality. Your individuality. The moments that each of us experience teach us life lessons, and ultimately shape each of us into just who we are. We adapt to these moments, these narratives, and these events as our life goes on in order to become the person that we all want to be. These are my stories, and these stories define me. Reading was always an important part of my life as a child. When I was younger, my favorite book was Where The Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak. I always used to compare myself to the main character, Max. I always pretended I was in his shoes. In the book, Max misbehaves and gets into trouble with his mother, and is sent to his room without dinner. As he mopes around in disgust, the room begins to change into a forest. He travels through the forest, to the land where the wild things are. The wild things are creatures with big eyes and big, terrible teeth. Max is crowned king of the wild things, as the monsters love him dearly. But, he spurns the monsters and heads home after he longs for love from his mother. As he arrives back to his room, he sees his supper waiting for him. His mom had left it for him while he was gone. When I was a child, this story told me to be good to my parents. I remember just feeling really happy when the story was over, because of the reconciliation between Max and his mother. I know there was always a hug with my mom or my dad after we finished the book; it didnt matter who was reading me the story. As Ive aged, the story has a more significant meaning to me. I use this story to keep me grounded in life and to realize the important things that are around me. Oftentimes we, as human beings, get too caught up in emotions and tend to forget what means the most to us. To this day, I dont hold grudges, especially not with my family. Life is too short to waste time being mad over something thats already over. Where The Wild Things Are reminds me that anger is short-lived and that its always better to love and forgive than to live in spite. I have an awesome relationship with my little brother and little sister. Part of that is because I vow to always love and forgive them through our rough patches, and part of that is because I try to look after them as best as I can. Years ago, I made a promise to myself to never let my brother or sister get into any potential danger. The promise happened after I was out on the swings outside, and my little brother had gotten loose from my mom while she was talking to the neighbors. My brother took off behind me, and I didnt see him. As I reared back on the swing, my feet hit him square in the face, and I sent him flying. It turns out I broke his nose. I saw the pain that he was in, and I knew that I never wanted to see either one of my siblings in that kind of pain ever again.Just a few months ago, my little sister and I were talking at the dinner table, just the two of us. Shes 12, and Im 18, so were six years apart. My brother is in between us hes 15. But I knew she was having some trouble with some of the girls at school because they were giving her a hard time, so I talked to her. I talked about the stupid stuff that I went through when I was her age, and how meaningless it was to me now. My mom tells her things like this all the time but I think its better for her to hear it from somebody closer to her age. I told her how her life is going to be so much more than what it is right now and that she cant let little things like this bring her down. When I was done, she just looked at me with watery eyes and said, Do you have to go to college? She almost broke me down. Id never heard her say anything like that to me before. Yeah, I do. But youll be fine without me; Im sure of it. I love my siblings. Even though Im the oldest, I learn just as much from them as they learn from me. They keep me strong and are the reason I am who I am today. But its not just my siblings who have helped shape me. My two best friends David and Sarah have had a profound impact on my life as well. Ive known them since I was 10, and weve all grown up together for the most part. Two summers ago, Sarah, David and I went into New York City to meet a friend we met online. Its a long story, and Ill probably get judged really hard for explaining it.Regardless, we met a kid from Brazil on a video chatting website called Omegle one night while a bunch of adults were drunk at my house for a hurricane party. This is a hurricane in Connecticut, were talking, and so it had to be celebrated. We start talking to this kid named Luis, and all four of us got along very well. We exchanged information and added one another on Facebook after wed talked to him for a couple hours. We kept in contact for the first couple weeks, the relationship initially being more of a joke than anything. We thought it was a funny joke that we had a friend from Brazil that we met on the Internet, but as time went on we actually started to realize it was a real friendship.A year passed after the hurricane party, and all three of us maintained in frequent contact with Luis. I remember when Skyping him one night, the night he told us he was going to be coming to the United States for the first time. He said he was going with a group that would be traveling to some major parts across the country of ours. Miami, Los Angeles, and New York City were included. We knew our shot to see him was in the Big Apple. After some serious persuasion from us to our parents, we were able to go to the city to meet Luis. We get to the city in the sweltering heat in the middle of the summer, and we hadnt heard a word from Luis all day. None of us had really thought through the idea of trying to find somebody wed never met in one of the biggest cities in the world.With virtually zero contact with one another on the day he was in NYC, we somehow managed to find him. Sarah got a call from a random phone number, and Luis was on the other line. As we sat in the middle of Rockefeller Plaza, he told us that he would meet us there in the next 15 minutes. We couldnt believe that he was actually going to be showing up, and minutes later we were with our friend. The first thing that I noticed was how much shorter he was in person compared to what I expected after seeing him on a computer screen for a year plus. It was pretty surreal for all of us, but it was especially amazing to think about the journey that wed all come from just messing around one night to a serious friendship.That first day in New York was just the first big step in a friendship that I know I will have for life. It goes to show that sometimes a shot in the dark can actually pay big dividends. Ive learned from my situation with Luis that you never know who could potentially become your best friend. Life truly is full of unknowns, so the way I see it, why not be friendly to everyone? You never know who could wind up being your best friend.Part of my friendliness just comes naturally from my genetics. My mom is the friendliest person I know, and my dad is awfully friendly as well. Additionally, both my parents are superbly intelligent. But on my moms side of the family, there is something deeper that we refer to as the Nozato gene. I personally say my two closest cousins have benefitted from the gene the most, with my younger brother a close third. I always deny that Ive got the Nozato gene, but my cousins are always there to insist that Ive got it. There are times when I believe them, but there are also times when I deny it. The Nozato gene comes from my Grandpa, Mr. Yasuo Nozato. I consider him the most intelligent and wise person that I know.My grandpa was born in Okinawa, Japan and through his stories, Ive learned of his tremendous struggle during his adolescence and of his prosperity thereafter. Living in the midst of the Second World War, my grandfather was forced to raise his siblings along with his mother. They were starving a lot of the time with nothing but a little rice sometimes for the week, and it doesnt help that his father went off to war and went MIA either. Despite all the adversity amongst his world, my grandpa persevered. He stuck with his studies and always focused on the positives. Amidst the chaos that was his world, he excelled. He eventually earned a scholarship to school in the United States, thus initiating the extremely difficult situation of leaving his home country to pursue his dreams. My grandpa took the opportunity that was presented to him, despite leaving his family behind in Japan. He would be the only one in his family to ever leave his home country for good.But let me get back to the Nozato gene. My cousins, brother, and I use the Nozato gene as a way to describe our intelligence that weve inherited from our grandfather. When I talk to my cousins about certain school troubles, theyre quick to remind me about it. Dont worry, youve got the Nozato gene, youll be fine. But I always question if I really have the gene in the same sense as they mean it. Im a smart kid, but Im definitely not brilliant. My cousins are brilliant, and my younger brother is extremely bright as well.I like to think of my Nozato gene as something else. I think of the perseverance and the dedication and the willingness to be great as my Nozato gene that Ive inherited from my grandfather. Its something that I hold very close to me. I know that with hard work and determination, Ill be successful because of it.Hard work and determination can get you places, but everyone needs a little bit of luck getting there. When I was growing up, one of my favorite movies was Like Mike, a basketball movie about a 13-year old orphan named Calvin Cambridge who goes from rags to riches after he finds magical shoes that enhance his basketball ability. Calvin plays on an NBA team because of his talent acquired from the shoes, and along the way he befriends one of his teammates named Tracy Reynolds. Eventually, Calvins shoes become ruined after he leads them to the playoffs for the first time in the teams history. Hes forced to retire, and is forced back to his normal life at the orphanage. The only thing is, he wouldnt be an orphan for long, because Tracy decided to adopt Calvin and his best friend, Murph.The thing that I took away most from this movie is that anything truly is possible. In life, there are the highest highs and the lowest lows. But through it all, you can do anything if you set your mind to it. In this case, Calvin and his friend lucked out by having Tracy adopt them. But Im a firm believer that you need a little luck to be successful in life, as long as youre doing the right things. I know that there will be times in my life where Ill fail. But there will also be times when good luck comes upon me. As long as Im working hard towards what I want to be, I can turn that good luck into success.