Petahh Pan

Oh by the way, i will marry a guy that is a cross between peter pan and paul bunyan. yeah, i know. good luck finding him, right?

this is my essay that i have FINALIZED for my application into atlantic acting school. the prompt was to write about a character in fiction who has had influence on you and what that influence is. so here goes:
I FINISHED SOMETHING!

Once when I was young, I dreamt I could fly. In my dream I scrambled to the top of our saggy, worn-out den couch, spread out my scrawny arms, uncurled my clenched fists, closed my eyes to wish upon happy thoughts, and jumped. But instead of flopping onto a pile of pillows as I had done in countless games of make believe, in my dream I actually flew. With my scratchy pink nightgown, and arms spread out like a bird, I was Wendy Darling.
Having been raised on a steady diet of dusty, yellowed books and 2-D Disney animation, I was thoroughly acquainted with the enchanted characters that lived in fairy tales. Yet there was one story that continued to draw me back even after I had let go of nightlights and good-night kisses. In it lived a girl I believed to be real as a child and whose image I vividly remember even now. Her name was Wendy Darling and I flew with her once in a dream. Through the years she has had the ability to not only reflect parts of my own personality, but also impact many of my views, attitudes, and experiences in life.
Wendy Darling taught me how to grow up without becoming a grown-up. In J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, and in practically all fairy tales, grown-ups are those who have lost the enchantment. They have forgotten the sparkle of possibility and the longing to dream. Now they are held in a concrete world of obligations, societal rules and stoic masks. Grown-ups don’t embark on quests of adventure, where danger is welcomed and fear is brushed aside. Instead they dream up worlds of security and comfort. They try to please those around them by putting on corporate costumes and wearing alternating masks at home, at work, and at “play”. I will never be a grown-up, but I will always be growing up.
The day I turned eighteen, my father said it was time to start acting like a grown-up. He said if I wanted to be taken seriously and treated as an adult, I damn sure had to act like one. There I was, about to be pushed into the adult world where creased pants, button-down blouses and patent pumps threatened to take the place of my ruffled tutu, knee-high socks and scuffed-up shoes. With my feet slipping and my knees buckling, I was straddling the chasm between childhood innocence and the reality of adulthood. Life had given me an ultimatum: either enter the swift, practical and independent world of adulthood, or cling to childhood and long for a past which time only sustains in a memory.
But, I realized I will never have to choose—Wendy Darling didn’t. In Peter Pan, Wendy is pulled in one direction by the desire to remain in Neverland with its endless realm of imagination and childhood creativity. Forcing her in the opposite direction are Wendy’s parents and the unspoken laws of society which command her to grow up, move out of the nursery, stop her silly nonsensical dreams and become a lady. However, Wendy refuses to be torn between these two worlds. Unlike most children who relinquish their dreams as a right of passage into adulthood, Wendy ages but never lets go of her Neverland. She continues to believe in a world of radiating beauty, in a world of buoyant hope, and in a world of boundless imagination—in a world so many have lost and forgotten.
Because of Wendy Darling, I will never be one of those who have lost their hopes and forgotten their dreams. Inevitably, I will grow old; my skin will loosely sag from my brittle bones, my hair will glisten with emerging strands of grey and white, and my body will declare mutiny as it aches and wilts. But I will never allow my imagination, and the radiating life that dwells there, to die. Wendy Darling taught me growing up is inevitable, but glowing embers of unencumbered dreams, hopes and imaginings must be plucked from childhood and clasped tightly in adulthood to breathe fervent life into mere existence.

ps. dad your dialogue was changed to protect you for artistic purposes. HA. well "damn well" sounded more dramatic didn't it? it's what you meant anyways :)