[ FF ] Can you tell your life story in just 200 words ?

Dad said I could play with his oil pastels when I could read the words on the box. I learned fast. I think I was happy before the divorce. After that, life was was mom and church and school where I was bullied. At 18, I saw a painting at my actor-friend ’ s house of him and his boyfriend holding eachother, and I left the church forever. 
 
 My friends went to college. I worked at the mall and loved click-click-clicking across the polished floors with sunlight pouring through the skylights and canned music clearly audible in the mornings before the crowds arrived. 
 
 I met a boy. He kissed me by the lake. Getting old with him makes it hard to complain about anything else. Even the brain tumor. 
 
 When retail stopped being enough ( I wanted to be Ms. MyLastName and not Miss MyFirstName when I got old ) I became an elementary school teacher. Next month The Boy and I are moving in with his mother so she won ’ t have to go to a nursing home. 
 
 Every day, I remember words spoken to a skinny teenager who worked at the mall. “ Life goes on a lot longer than you think it will. ” 
 
 *** 
 
 200 exactly, according to Drive. Started at 286, it was hard to pare down. 
 
 ( Edit, word choice )
