My dad was a businessman who tended to travel a lot. We had just "celebrated" (we were actually just watching the T.V and debating whether or not we should go to church) Christmas. It was almost the new year, aka 1999.

Never in my life had Christmas been so disappointing.

It was then that my dad came through the front door with his huge suitcase. Recently he had went to America for reasons I will never know or care about, and wasn't supposed to come back until the ending of January 1999.

"I have gifts my little slaves kids!"

My older sister got perfume. My other older sister got a few bottles of nail polish. I don't remember what my brother got. My younger sister got a baby doll. And my younger brother...I think he got some toy car or something. And finally, it was my moment.

"I picked this out especially for you! I know that you're trying to learn English," my dad's voice trailed off as he went into the kitchen to greet my impatient mom.

I unwrapped the gift and my heart dropped to the floor. Final Fantasy Vl l.

Final Fantasy 7.

The only bad thing was, I didn't have a Play Station 2. Immediately I marched up to my dad and complained about the lack of a play station in the house.

"I thought it was a DVD," my dad replied.

Thus I started my quest to find a play station.

It was another year before I could find a play station. My brothers threatened to shove me off of the apartment balcony if I used the play station.

They didn't have any videogames to play.

It had been a tiring day at school. I just wanted to hide under my bed and live the huge balls of dust. My brothers were thankfully not at home. After I had told my older sister that I was going to go live under the bed, I rolled under.

CRACK!

I screamed because I thought I had broken my back or something. It was Final Fantasy 7. The case had cracked under my weight.

I wasn't even fat!

Now I knew that I had to play. Skillfully I jumped in front of the T.V and popped the first disc in.

And ever since then I've been addicted to videogames.

My life suddenly changed. Never had I ever experienced such raw emotions before from the T.V. Sure, there were dramas that mom always liked to watch, but there was no real emotions. Even my idols at the time, SES could not tear me away from Cloud (who was becoming my only reason to live).

And then Aeris (or Aerith, I preffer to call her Aeris because that was the name I grew up with) died.

I almost threw the TV out the window. I didn't eat for two days and constantly cried because I felt like a little part of me died.

And of course, the other kids thought I was a freak. When they interrogated me for crying over Aeris, I just lied and said that she was my friend who lived in a different city.

Final Fantasy took away my life from school. I was barely passing school because I always day-dreamed about Aeris living and defeating Sephiroth. My homelife wasn't exactly the greatest either. My two younger siblings were staying at their friends' homes after school and usually had to be forced home. My older brother wanted to join the millitary as soon as he graduated so that he didn't have to worry about serving later. My two older sisters roamed around our neighborhood a lot and wanted nothing to do with their freaky younger sister.

Meanwhile, I was on disc 3 and exploring the world map with new additions to the crew, Vincent, and Yuffie. Life was getting boring and repetitive. I began to focus all of my energy into a dumb videogame. My mom worked late hours. I played late hours. My siblings were all out having lives and I was pretending to have a life in a completely different world.

Alas, I knew that the enevitable had happened and I needed to do the final battle with Sephiroth. It was a Thursday night. 2 years full of many changes. And there I was battling Sephiroth.

The game came to an abrupt end.

My siblings came home. Older brother made us ramen. Mom came home later. Dad was out travelling. I was still stuck in my own world. Angrily, I took out my school notebook and wrote the following:

good going i bet final fantasysy 7 and i hav nthing lft to do.

I wrote that in English btw.

More games were released. A preqeul and seqeul were released. And I was still trying to breathe in the ending.

Thank you Cloud Strife for teaching me that even if your loved ones are dying that there can be hope. Your enemy can be tackled.

Thank you Aeris Gainsborough for teaching me that life is to be lived with no worries and no regrets. You can always protect your loved ones and flowers.

Thank you Barret for teaching me that you CAN do things when you believe in it- and that it's also ok to go against the power.

Thank you Tifa Lockheart for teaching me about love. Even if the person that you love seems to be interested in someone else, that doesn't mean you give up- it just means you're stronger.

Red X l l, thank you for teaching me to preserve your family- even if they seem to be cowards. There will always be a new day.

Thanks Cait Sith for teaching me that friends are important in your life. It may sometimes feel as if you're using them, but in the end you must make sacrifices for them also.

Cid, my dear friend, thank you for teaching me how to swear.

Yuffie, thanks to you, I have a more optimistic look on life.

Zack Fair, I love you so much. You have taught me to believe in yourself and to help your friends in times of need. Angeal passed the Buster Sword to you and you passed it on to Cloud. Let's hope that Cloud will pass down the power of friendship to another important person. I will always cherish the times I played you, even if it was a long time after the original release of Final Fantasy 7.

Never in my life, have I felt like a complete nerd.