Woe is me!

There is/was this contest in Glamour magazine about writing about a real life event. I really want/wanted to write something and see what type of feedback I get. The only problem is....the past winners have had tragic stories. One girl had Hodgkin's and died before her story was published. Another winner wrote about how she overcame sexual abuse. Life is hard for everyone but I just don't think I stand a chance. Topics I thought about writing about were:

• Being the child of a teenage mother...look how I've turned out (shut it Bill). Basically this would have been about how I am the person I am today because of my mom and that even if your mom is/was young it doesn't mean that she can't raise you right. 
• My niece Marissa....my sisters are my half-sisters in a sense and it wasn't until like 4th grade when a schoolmate pointed that fact out to me that I ever even thought that. They have a different dad than me but we were all raised together. My sisters are the exact opposite of me. Skinny, blonde, blue eyes...do I need to go on.... and I've always just felt like the odd man out. I mean there are two of them and one of me. They look alike. People can just look at them and know that they are sisters. Anytime I would meet their friends for the first time they were like...she's your sister. So it wasn't until Marissa came around that I truly felt like me and my sisters do have similarities. Face it folks, Marissa is mini-me and I felt this bond with her the minute she was born. Also, I'm never going to have children. Honestly, there are some moments when I do think....will I regret that choice one day to not have a little girl like me. The fact that Marissa is that ideal little girl to me...the one I've thought about what if....it just amazes me. Also, Marissa is going through a lot of the same things that I went through at her age. Her parents are divorced and she's got a new little sister which is her half-sister! I hope no one ever tells her! I just know how I felt when I was young when my dad constantly disappointed me or didn't keep his promises. I never want Marissa to feel that way and I want to be at least one grown-up that she can always count on. Anyways, this is the leading topic. I just feel like this is the most heartfelt story I can think of other than talking about my mom. I just don't know if it is enough to win and I just feel like I really need to figure out how to make a smooth transition between the layers of this story. So I have about a day and a half to make this happen....I've wrote 20 page papers for UF in less time but who knows.... 

I just feel like I've hit a brick wall because I'm so intimidated by the past winners thinking that my story isn't going to cut it. I'll keep you posted.