A little girl running around without shoes. I trip and scrape my knobbly knees. But I smile and say I'm fine and you pick me up and spin me around until I start to cry so you stop. But I smile and say I'm fine and we're off to some new adventure and we won't understand till we get there but I smile and say I'm fine and here we go again.

A teenager waiting for his call. I wait till dusk is dawn. 16 in love is just so hard when no one loves you back. But I smile and say I'm fine and you pray to God that these years will be kind until I can't stand to hear your prayers anymore so you stop. But I smile and say I'm fine and we're off to some new adventure and we won't understand till we get there, but I smile and say I'm fine and here we go again.

A young woman with scars self-inflicted. 18 too old to play, too young to know what I want from this world, in between everything, ready for nothing. But I smile and say I'm fine and you encourage me to live my life until I scream that I have to live my own life, not yours, so you stop. But I smile and say I'm fine and we're off to some new adventure and we won't understand till we get there, but I just can't smile anymore.

I find myself stuck between the girl, the teenager, the woman... trapped in them all but not fitting any one role. And I try to smile... but I'm not so fine anymore, the corners of my mouth won't work that way and my eyes begin to leak, and my heart begins to ache and you ask if I'm ok, so I try to smile.

But I just can't smile anymore. And I haven't been fine in awhile. And you realize that your little girl doesn't exist as you knew her, and her life is now her own and she has to make it work without you.

So you smile and say you're fine and we're off to some new adventure and we won't understand till we get there but you smile and say you're fine so here we go again.